Perfect
by B00kw0rm92
Summary: Sam Evans is a foster child with a dark past and many secrets. His terror of having to leave yet another home has him in a desperate attempt to be perfect, but what happens when his attempts go overboard? And how long can he keep it up? /AU after 2x10
1. Prologue

**Warnings: Eating disorders, mentions, occasional flashbacks and conversations concerning abuse and neglect, and bullying**

* * *

Sam Evans was sitting on the bed in his new room reading through the lyrics to the latest Glee song the group was working on. They were given the lyrics that afternoon, but he wanted to have them memorized by the next day. Then he planned go back to that spot he'd found in the woods in the backyard and practice the song until he had it perfect. He never practices inside, he doesn't want to disturb the other members of the household. He spends a lot of time in that spot unless it rains, then he just has extra time to work out.

Sometimes it was hard to find time for Quinn. It had take a lot of re-working of his schedule to make it work. He knows the others guys on the team would never let him hear the end of it if they knew he actually has a written schedule, but he does. It was the only way to fit everything in.

Once he gets home from school he practices for Glee in the hour until supper. He helps the kids with their homework for an half an hour and then has half an hour to talk to Quinn on the phone, an hour for his homework, and two hours to work out in his room while the TV is on so he can make conversation at school the next day. A quick shower and he's in bed by eleven-thirty so he can be up at five-thirty to do whatever he sees that needs to be done around the house, make breakfast and help get the kids ready for school.

He's the oldest kid in the house right now, so he's decided it's his job to do as much to help as possible. He cooks, he cleans and he helps with homework. He's going to be the perfect student, the perfect football player, the perfect singer, the perfect brother, the perfect boyfriend and he will have the perfect body. He will be the perfect teenager. The perfect son. Maybe then he can stay.

He knew his room used to be the guest room. He knew there was a reason that the other kids were several years younger then him. He knew he was an emergency placement, taken in out of pity because there was litterally no where else for him to go. This was his seventh home in nine years. He had been bounced from place to place for various reasons, he'd been in a group home twice and he was sick of moving. He knew he only had a couple years left before he had to fend for himself. He hoped that maybe if he was perfect they would just keep him until then.

Except he was not perfect. He knew that. There wasn't much he could control about that. But, he thought, he wasn't really stupid, he wasn't a bad singer and if he practiced enough he could be a decent football player. He just hoped that if he worked hard enough, he could make them think he was perfect. And he was definitely working hard. He even scheduled his weekends as strictly as he could. He didn't have time to have free time.

He was strugling to keep up in everything but he knew that if he backed off with anything, his whole carefully constructed life would all fall apart. It was all connected. If he didn't have the perfect body, he couldn't be the perfect football player. If he didn't have the perfect body, if he wasn't the perfect singer and the perfect football player, he wouldn't have the perfect girlfriend. If he didn't have the perfect body, if he wasn't the perfect football player, if he didn't have the perfect girlfriend, he wasn't not even past mud on the popular scale. And if anything fell, he wasn't the perfect son.

It wasn't that he didn't love Quinn. He did. Now. But at first, he had flirted with her because she was popular. He had heard about her pregnancy, but she was already well on her way to being one of the most popular girls in school again. Joining Glee had definitely not helped his plans of being popular at first, but it had helped him get the perfect girl. He didn't expect to really end up liking her. That was definitely a plus. However, now he wasn't just scared of losing her because it would mess up his plan, he was scared of losing her because he loved her.

Glee had really thrown a wrench into his other plans too. He had friends now. Real ones. Sometimes his morals would really clash with his plan. How could he be the perfect football player when the Quarterback position was so important to his best friend? And how could he stay remotely popular when the other popular kids were tormenting the Glee kids? When Karofsky knocked Artie out of his wheelchair, he decided that the least important thing in his plan was being popular. It wasn't worth sitting by and watching while people hurt his friends.

The rest of his plan seemed to still be working, however. He knew he had impressed his new foster parents and so he deiced that he just needs to keep it up. So, if sometimes he had to get up at four-thirty to get all his homework done, it was ok. And if he was tired and hungry most of the time, he would live. He'd had worse. It was all worth it if he could just keep them thinking that he was perfect. It was all worth it if he could just stay.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Well ... this started off as a one-shot. But the idea just won't leave me alone and now I've got a whole multi-chapter story outlined. If I do end up adding more (which I'm 99% sure I will), I can't promise that I'll be able to update very fast, but I will promise that I will finish it. I hope you guys liked this!


	2. Chapter One

It was five in the morning when Sam began to beat at his alarm clock so it wouldn't wake anyone else. He hadn't quite finished his homework the night before. Luckily, he had long ago learned to start with the work he found the hardest and so all that was left was his English homework. He sighed before fishing through his backpack and starting the assignment.

By five thirty his homework was done and he was dressed and ready for the day. He quickly set about putting a load of clothes in the washing machine and loading the dishwasher. After looking around the house, he ended up straightening up the living room and sweeping the kitchen before he started to cook. Sam decided that the best thing about being the one to cook breakfast was that if he started eating when he heard his foster mom coming out of her bedroom, he could convince her that he was almost done - and really, he was full.

As usual, she smiled and thanked him before reminding him again that he didn't have to cook. He swore once again that he didn't mind and she headed off to wake the younger children. He finisheed the blueberry muffin he was holding just as four sleepy children stumbled into the kitchen. As they began pileing muffins on plates, he grabed the toys he had found in the living room and headed for their bedrooms. He shook his head as soon as walked into the girls room and quickly began throwing stuffed animals back in the pet-net and Barbie's back in the toy box before making the beds. Ellie might be twelve, but Anna seemed to have no trouble getting the older girl to play with her.

He was going through the same routine in the boy's room when his foster father walked by and told him it was really the kids' jobs to keep their rooms clean.

"I like cleaning." Sam lied with a shrug.

He heard the washing machine stop a moment later and quickly transferred the clothes into the drier. He nearly laughed when he made it back into the main living area. His foster father was shoving muffins into his mouth because he was already late, his foster mother was trying to brush a squirming Anna's hair, Ellie was almost in tears because she couldn't find her favorite shirt, Seth once again couldn't find his shoes and little Aiden was sitting in the floor just trying to get his shoes on. After assessing the situation, he ended up sitting in the floor beside Aiden and calmly put the little boys shoes on the right feet before tying the laces.

"Thank you, Sam!" the little boy yelled before hugging him and running off.

Sam then informed Ellie that he was fairly certain her shirt was still the drier and she gave a dramatic half-wail before heading to her room to find something else suitable to wear.

'Well, two down...' he thought as he joined Seth in the hunt for his shoes.

Ten minutes later they had found one shoe under Seth's bed and the other on the porch. As soon as the little boy pulled on his shoes the whole group running for the door to head to school. Sam got in the van still wondering how on earth Seth's shoes ended up that far apart.

* * *

Sam didn't mind that he and Ellie were always dropped off right after the younger children. Having extra time before school was a good thing in his opinion. He generally either spent it working out or practicing for Glee, whichever he felt he needed more. Usually, he was working out. It wasn't not that he thought he was such a good singer that he didn't need to practice, he just thought he needed to work out more. His muscles were nothing compared to some of the other guys, and he knew that he must weigh a lot more then some of them too. How could he expect to be a good football player if he looked like that? How could he keep Quinn if he looked like that?

Finn wandered in a few minutes later and started talking at Sam. Sam tried to listen, he really did. There weren't many places for him to respond anyway. Finn had a tendency to babble at times. He managed to gather that it was something about Rachel and that Kurt would _totally _know what to do if he were there, but Finn was talking a mile a minute.

"And Kurt just _gets_ her for some reason but he's not here so he hasn't seen everything and it's hard to explain everything on the phone and I'm not sure he gets it but I told him to call back and ... boarding school sucks!" Finn said, finally ending his rant.

"Doesn't Kurt come home on the weekends?" Sam asked after attempting to sort through everything Finn had just said.

"Well, yeah." Finn replied, looking puzzled.

"Then why don't you just wait until he comes home this weekend and explain it _then_ and see what he thinks you should do?" he asked his friend.

"Oh. Ok. That might work. Thanks, man!" Finn said, grinning as he headed out of the room.

* * *

He didn't have many classes with the other Glee kids, but that really didn't matter much to Sam. Once he entered a classroom he kept his focus entirely on that subject. He had too. He didn't have time for things to not make sense later because he wasn't paying attention. He couldn't afford for his grades to slip at all.

He jumped when Quinn came up behind him in the hallway between his Math and Science classes. He quickly covered it with a laugh and kissed her after he quickly checked for teachers. Once he assured her that they were still going to their weekly dinner that Friday night, they both went their separate ways to their classes.

It still amazed him that he had money for things like taking his girlfriend out to dinner. His foster parents gave him an allowance that was a lot more then he thought he deserved. His latest home was one of the best homes he has been in and that was a big reason why he was trying so hard to be perfect. It wasn't just that he didn't want to move again, it was that he really liked it there.

He made it through the next class and left worried that if he ended up with much more homework he wouldn't have time to finish it that night. He was already tired. He shook himself out of it and headed for the cafeteria. Luckily, he shared a lunch period with Quinn and she started where she left off last night, telling him about Sue's latest plans for the Cheerios. Sam smiled as he listened to his girlfriend talk while he pushed the food around his tray. He was beginning to question the sanity of the cheerleading coach even more.

* * *

Glee was the last class of the day and Sam was quite happy about it. He kept hoping for a snow day or something else that would cause a day off soon just so he could get a little more sleep. Mr. Schue informed them all again that they really needed to start pondering a set list for Regionals and that he would start taking suggestions on Monday. Rachel ignored the last part and began giving her suggestions right then. Mr. Schue gently repeated that everyone would get a say that time and that he would take suggestions on _Monday_.

They ran through their song a few times before their teacher started to add dance steps and everyone began trying not to laugh at Finn. As the boys headed out for football practice after the end of class, Sam overheard Mike telling Finn that he could come practice the dance at his house later. All the Glee boys tensed when Karofsky walked into the room. It didn't take much more then the sight of him anymore for all of them to wish he would give them a reason to punch him.

In the slightly cramped locker room, Artie "accidentally" ran over Karofsky's foot, something that had started to happen on an oddly regular basis. Artie quickly apologised and when Karofsky attempted to complain, Coach Beiste insisted that it had to have been an accident. She always did. Some of the teachers had been more then slightly cold with Karofsky since he showed back up at McKinnley. The few who had sided with victims of the schools bullying problem been as covert about their dislike of him as possible, so he hadn't yet had a way to complain.

The entire Glee club had been watching him as closely as possible, determined that next time he crossed a line, there would be witnesses and he would be reported again. They had decided that surely if they could report him enough times, _something_ would have to be done. Sam made a mental note of every remark Karofsky made in case it would come in handy in the future. He may not have known Kurt well, but he seemed nice and he was family to the other Glee club members. Even without what had happened to Kurt, Karofsky was a bully and something needed to be done.

* * *

Sam headed back to the locker room with his friends, grumbling along with them about how much he'd like to strangle Karofsky and his goons. When his foster father picked him up and asked how his day was, Sam told him everything was great. They kept up small talk in the car as Phil discussed his job and laughed as Sam told him Quinn's stories of Sue. It should have been a relaxing car ride, but Sam still didn't quite feel comfortable. He had spent a long three years in his last home.

It wasn't long before he was surrounded by trees, singing the same song over and over again and trying to dance along with it. He thought he was finally starting to get it fully memorized when Seth came running to tell him that supper was ready and laughed at his dancing. He playfully chased the younger boy for a minute before he catching him, tickling him and then carrying him inside to eat.

He bit back a sigh when Jessica, his foster mother, insisted that he was a growing boy and that he needed to finish everything on his plate. She said the same thing every night. He laughed at the younger children's chatter and wished life at his school was as simple as it seemed to be at theirs. Jessica shooed him away when he attempt to clean off the table and so he headed for the living room. Anna and Seth were quietly arguing but before he could step in Seth seemed to give in and Anna proudly headed towards him holding a math book.

He had just finished helping Anna with her math when his cell phone rang and Quinn instantly started ranting as soon he picked it up. He listened to her for several minutes before she stopped, and he commented that it really doesn't sound like Sue's latest plans are totally legal. His comment made Quinn laugh and she informed him that the legality of things has never stopped her cheerleading coach before. He loved to hear her laugh. They talked about anything and everything until he reluctantly told her that he had to go.

Sam started to work on his homework but when the hour was up he was no where near done. He quickly got a glass of water and headed to his room. He turned on the little TV and picked up his weights. He didn't let himself stop working out for the next two hours and he nearly fell asleep in the shower. Then he finally collapsed into bed so he could start the whole routine again in five hours.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I am so, so glad that people seem to like this so far! Reviews make me happy. I decided to give you a bit more a taste of Sam's day-to-day life, hence this "A Day In The Life Of Sam Evans" type chapter. There's much more to come!

PS: Truthfully, I mostly listen to Christian music. I need suggestions for songs to feature/mention in later chapters!


	3. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two:**

Nobody at school has figured out that he's a foster child yet. It's not exactly something he plans to advertise, but he knows that eventually some people are going to find out. One of the perks of having Finn as his best friend has been that Finn doesn't question much. Finn never really seems to take conversations past school, football, Glee and girls. Sam likes it that way just fine. As long as Finn doesn't bring up his home life, then he's not even lying.

He knows that he needs to tell Quinn but he keeps putting it off. He doesn't exactly have a car and he knows that in all their plans to meet for dinner, she's eventually going to see his foster parents dropping him off. It would definitely be best to avoid the awkwardness of her referring to them as "Mr. or Mrs. Evans", but he just can't figure out how to tell her. "By the way, I'm a foster kid and that all boys boarding school ... yeah, I've never been there." doesn't seem like the best way to go about things.

Honestly, that stupid all boys school idea is one of the main reasons he's avoiding saying anything. He _lied_ to her. He knows she's going to be mad. He really, really doesn't want her to be mad. He already knows he's not good enough for her. What if this is the last straw? What if it makes her so mad that she breaks up with him? It's nearly enough to make him freak out just to think about it. He loves her, but that's not even the only issue. His foster parents would figure out that he doesn't have a girlfriend anymore and they'd want to know why. He'd either have to lie to them or tell them that he'd lied to her. Then what would they do?

They can't find out that he's not perfect. He can't lose this. He can't move again. He's so sick of bouncing from home to home, from family to family, from life to life. He just wants it to stop. He wants to stay. This is the best place he's been. There might be bullies, but he's got actual friends. He's got a place where, somehow, he actually seems to fit in. He loves his foster siblings and everything just feels _right_. He's got foster parents that seem to care and nobody hurts him. He doesn't want any of this to go away.

Well, he supposed that saying _nobody_ hurt him might be a bit of a stretch. Once he established himself as firmly on the side of his fellow Glee club members, that meant he was firmly _against _some of the more ... violent students at school. And they expressed their displeasure with that rather firmly as well. He can deal with that though. He couldn't just sit around and let them mess with his friends. And if that means he suffers with his friends, well, at least he has friends.

Ever since Kurt had left, the Glee club had been having to stick together more then ever. It seemed that with their favorite target gone, the bullies had decided to make up for it by tormenting their second favorite targets even more. Being in Glee club was beginning to get downright dangerous. He doesn't think it will be too hard to keep his foster parents from finding out though. None of his foster siblings are in high school, so there isn't anybody to tell them and if there's a bruise or two ... he'd had a lot of practice hiding those.

He'll just have to step it up some. He's no where near the boyfriend Quinn deserves. He'll have to work harder at that. Then maybe when he tells her that he's a foster kid, he'll be able to convince her not to leave him. Then if she doesn't leave him, nothing will ruin the illusion he's created for his foster family and everything will be ok. Nothing can slip. He doesn't get the best grades, and he's not the best singer, or the best football player - he's not the best at anything. He's trying for perfect, but all he's managing is perfectly average. And he's so tired. But he has to keep it up. If they find out who he really is, he's toast.

The perfect teenage boy loves football, not soccer. The perfect teenage boy is good at all his classes, not just English and History. The perfect teenage boy is not obsessed with learning every language he hears. The perfect teenage boy is not a bookworm. The perfect teenage boy is not addicted to science-fiction everything. The perfect teenage boy is not a geek. The perfect teenage boy is not him. So, he can't act like himself. He's not perfect and so he has to pretend to be. He's gotten really good at pretending.

It's pretty easy to pretend with his foster family and even with Finn. But it's harder with Quinn. Something about her has him always on his toes. He's always finding himself forgetting to pretend with her. He thinks it wouldn't be nearly as hard if he hadn't actually had feelings for her, but he does. He really cares about her and he thinks she's starting to care about him. The problem is that she doesn't really know _him_. And somehow that hurts, even though he knows that if she knew who he really was, she'd never love him.

As soon as he begins to dwell on that fact, Finn wanders into the weight room and interrupts his rambling thoughts. It's nearly becoming part of the routine for Finn to show up during his morning workout and babble about whatever is on his mind. Sam can't help but be interested in the fact that Finn has wandered in holding several papers this time and seems to be nearly bouncing up and down waiting on Sam to stop what he's doing and look at whatever he's got. Sometimes, Finn reminds Sam a bit of a combination of a hyper toddler and a very loyal dog.

The second he put down the weights, Finn was shoving papers in his hands,

"I found this awesome song and I'm trying to track down all the guys! I want us to sing it for Glee!" He exclaims.

"But we don't have a group project for Glee right now." Sam replies, puzzled.

"I know! But Mr. Shoue is wanting us to think of songs for Regionals and ... maybe if he likes it then the girls could sing with us on the chorus or something. But I just want to sing this. It's awesome. Read the lyrics!" Finn explains, still sounding much too excited for so early in the morning Sam thinks, but then he almost laughs, because really, he's been awake for hours already.

He looks down at the papers in his hand and starts reading the first few lines.

"_What if nobody likes me?  
What if I don't succeed?  
What if I give it all that I've got  
and I still don't got what they need?  
What if I don't get anywhere at all?  
Will I consider myself a failure?  
Will I be that small?_"

Wonderful. Finn's managed to find Sam's theme song and he doesn't even realize it. The only problem is that Sam has to live his life worried about "What If?". Chances are that he won't die tomorrow and that means he has to do everything possible to stay where he is. If he can just stay in this town, in this school, with this family .. maybe he'll be able to get some Summer jobs, maybe he'll even find time for a part time job eventually. Then maybe, just maybe, he'll manage a scholarship. He can't "live" now because he has to make sure he can survive later.

"You don't like it?" Finn asks, noticing the expression on Sam's face.

"Oh, no." Sam covers. "Sorry, my mind just wandered. It's cool song. I bet the others'll like it too."

"Ok, cool! I'm gonna go try and them. Puck's always late, but I think Artie may be in the band room. Mike..." he trails off as he tries to figure out where to find his other friend.

"Mike's probably with Tina. But I don't know where exactly they'll be." Sam offers.

"Oh, well. I should run into him at some point today." Finn says with grin as he waves and heads off in search of Artie.

Sam glances back at lyrics in his hands and wonders at the fact that _this_ of all songs had to be Finn's new favorite. Most of the song sounds like his recent thoughts put to music. He'll just have to suck it up. He'll sing it with the other guys and he won't let them have any kind of hint that he means nearly every word. He can handle it.

He looks back at the weights. He's exhausted already today and since he managed to avoid eating breakfast at all this morning, he decides maybe he can go ahead and stop his workout a few minutes early. Now he just has to focus on making it through the day and staying awake. There's only around fifteen more hours until he can sleep. This should be fun.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I know, it's not that long and I've kinda been awhile. I'm sorry! I have many excuses involving five snow days, eight children 3-11 (my mom baby-sits) running through my house, a broken heater, much stress and taking some time to do research. I won't bore you with the details though. Many thanks to my friend Heather (Average Everyday Sane Psycho) for letting me bounce ideas around with her and for giving me the song mentioned in this chapter. By the way, the song is "What If" by Plain White T's.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I'll be back with more soon!


	4. Chapter Three

There really, really need to be more hours in the day, Sam thinks. It took everything he had not to fall asleep in the middle of Science class and it was a lot harder then usual to concentrate. It's only lunch time and he has no clue how he's going to make it the rest of the day. Something needs to give, but the problem is that he can't of anything that can today.

He sees Quinn coming and smiles. He pushes all his problems out of his mind. For now, he's all about her. He takes a bite of the mashed potatoes on his plate before he starts his routine of simply pushing his food around his plate for the most part. There's an apple, he'll eat that. He's hungry, but he knows he doesn't need to eat much. He'll eat at supper. It's not like he can ever avoid that.

Quinn complains about a test coming up for a few minutes before she turns the conversation to songs for Glee. She starts listing songs she's thinking of and he makes a mental note to look them up at some point that night before he replies.

"I like all of those." he says with a smile.

"What are you going to suggest?" she replies, flashing a perfect smile back at him.

"I'm not sure yet." He admits, blushing as he expertly stirs his mashed potatoes with his fork.

"You have to hurry up, Sam! It's Thursday!" she says with a laugh.

"I know, I know." he says while grinning at her. "I've just been busy."

"Well, you won't have much time to think about it tomorrow, so you better start tonight, Mr. Evans." she teases.

"You still ok to meet at Breadstiks after the game?" he asks, avoiding the rest of the comment deciding to ponder song ideas while he's working out that night.

"Of course, I am! That's the best part of Friday nights." she says a with smirk.

"What, you don't enjoy the football games?" he teases.

"Of course, I do. But I don't have my Most Valuable Boyfriend to myself during the game." she flirts back.

Quinn laughs at her silly comment and Sam laughs at the absurdity of the idea that he's the "most valuable" anything.

"Plus, I don't have to fear for my life at the resteraunt." She jokes once she calms down. "I still can't believe she had Ashley and Brooke to learn that fire-breathing-whatever for the this routine!"

Sam smiles and begins to quickly finish his apple as she starts another mini-rant about the routine Sue's had them working on. Tomorrow is the last game of the season and Sue has decided that they should go out with a bang. He knows that most of the other guys will be doing something together after the game, but insanely-late dinner dates after the game are a tradition for him and his girlfriend and going out with her instead will certainly help the Perfect Boyfriend aspect of his plan. Plus, he really does enjoy those dates.

Quinn continues telling him all about the routine they have planned for game and Sam wonders how far Sue will go before somebody insists on psychiatric testing. The bell cuts Quinn off mid-sentence and he kisses her good-bye before getting up to throw away his tray and head for the next class.

* * *

He's fairly certain it was a miracle that he managed to stay awake for the rest of his classes. He knows it's bad when he hears people whispering something about Harry Potter in the back of the classroom and his first thought is that he really wishes time turners were real, because he would use one to take a nap right now if they were. He's finding himself much to happy that tomorrow is the last game of the season. He's already rearanged his schedule and figured out that no football gives him more time for homework and an extra hour of sleep. He's really looking forward to that extra hour of sleep.

He heads to the choir room and catches sight of Finn just in time to see him get slammed into a locker by Karofsky. The flash of anger gets worse when he looks close and realizes that his friend is wearing a different shirt then he had been that morning. Again. It drives him crazy that the principal doesn't see the locker slams and slushies as "enough" for anything to be done. He has somehow avoided being slushied all day and he's rather happy about that - it means no wet clothes to hide when he gets home.

Experience has taught him that if he doesn't want his foster parents to realize what's going on, he has to change shirts as soon as he gets to school and change back after Glee. Usually that keeps them from finding out, he's only been slushied on the way to the bus once before. The slushie attacks are becoming even more of a regular occurrence lately though and he's starting to notice that out of all of them, it's Finn who never goes a day without being slushied at least once. He somehow has a feeling it's not a coincidence that Kurt's stepbrother is getting the worst of the bullying now.

"You ok, Finn?" Sam asked as the walked into the choir room together.

"Yeah, I'm fine. They think they're a lot stronger then they are. I'm a lot bigger then ... then the people they usually mess with." he says, shrugging it off.

"They're jerks." Sam comments as they sit down.

"What's new?" his friend quips.

Sam can't help but grin at that.

"Hey! We're all gonna meet at my house Saturday to practice that song, you cool with that?" Finn asks.

"Sure! When should I come over?" he replies.

"The other guys are coming over around one." the other says,

"Ok, cool." Sam says as Finn gets up to hug Rachel, who's just walked in.

Sam sits back to wait for Quinn while Rachel tells Finn that she has narrowed down her list of song ideas to twenty. While Sam knows that Finn is bigger then Kurt - because he knows that's what the other boy had almost said - he also knows that being slammed into a hard surface is _never _a pleasant experience. He just hopes that something can be done about Karofsky and his goons before things end up going way to far.

Mr. Shoue walks in just behind Quinn and immediately announces that he wants them to run through their previous performance numbers to help them come up with things they can improve on when they start planning the Regionals numbers the next week. He already knows Don't Stop Believing as the group still has a tendency to break into that one at times, but he ends up getting a crash course in last years performance numbers for the rest of the class.

* * *

He knows that this practice will be intense with the last game of the season being tomorrow. Artie (who Sam realizes he has also seen in two different outfits that day) seems to have decided to start things on a light note for his friends. Sam notices Artie quickly glance behind him before, in a moment of brilliance, rolling backwards over Karofsky's foot and then rolling _back _over it while "apologising". The Glee guys frantically try to hide smirks as Coach Beiste calmly tells Artie that he really needs to be more careful and then shoots a look at the still-hopping Karofsky that implies he's being much too dramatic.

When Karofsky's even rougher with Sam and his friends during practice, Sam realizes that the guy has finally clued in that Artie's little "accidents" aren't accidents. He decides to warn his friend, but there's only one day left of football for the year so if Artie has something planned for tomorrow, the guy certainly deserves it. After practice he waits until Karofsky and his friends have left the locker room before saying anything to Artie, who confirms that does have a plan for the next day and he's prepared to face the consequences.

"I hope you have enough room in your locker for all the changes of clothes your gonna need." he tells his friend.

"It's worth it. He chased Kurt out of the school and he's still tormenting the rest of us. This is the last chance I'll have for a while to do anything to get back at him. It's definitely worth it." Artie states before rolling out of the room with Sam following behind him.

Sam can't help but be both a little worried and a little amused. Artie using his wheelchair as a weapon is certainly always interesting. He makes a mental note to warn the guys that they may need to put Puck's "secret service" plan into action to protect Artie for a couple weeks.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I know, I know ... but I told you I was bad at updating. I have many excuse, one being a flu outbreak and another being that it took me a bit to stop being really, really mad at Finn and Quinn. This story is obviously very AU now and I have just realized that I forgot Sam's supposed to be dyslexic but, well ... it's AU. Also, I realize I likely need a beta but ... all I have is spell-check and my eleven year old sister at the moment, so hopefully this is ok.

Romiaerla: I am so happy you like this story! I hope you will continue to enjoy it! I'll do my best to get a new chapter out soon!


	5. Chapter Four

Sam had spent most of suppertime running through songs in his head and he's now quickly searching for lyrics on the family computer while on the phone with Quinn. She's chattering about cheerleading practice and the big game tomorrow and he's doing his best to listen while he reads through the lyrics to make sure they work as well as he thinks they will. He grins as he gets to the end of the song - it will be perfect. He hits print and turns his attention completely to his girlfriend as soon as he has the lyrics in his hand.

"I'm afraid that Karofsky might try something tomorrow." she tells him.

"Football's too important to him to mess up a game. As long as Artie doesn't make him too mad we should be ok." Sam says.

"What is Artie going to do?" she asks, sounding worried.

"Well ... he won't say. But it shouldn't be _too_bad. Most of his plans just involve elaborate ways to run over Karofsky's foot." he explains.

"Hopefully Artie won't upset him too much." she replies with a laugh.

"Somehow I think that's Artie's goal." Sam tells his girlfriend.

Quinn sighs, "Artie and Kurt are pretty close friends and Karofsky's never made Artie's life very fun either. So, I kind of understand, but I just wonder how smart it is." she says.

"Yeah, same here. Artie's determined, but I'm afraid we'll have to put Puck's plan into action after this. I think Puck almost wants too." he comments.

"He would." she says dryly.

Sam can't help but grin. He knows about Puck's history with his girlfriend, but the guy seems to have changed and it's nearly impossible for Sam not to find his antics amusing at times. He knows Puck doesn't want anyone to get hurt, he just wants an excuse to wear sunglasses around the school. Sam's fairly certain Puck's one of those guys who still secretly wants to be a spy. And he has to admit, that would be kind of cool.

They happily discuss anything and everything until he tells her that he has to go do his homework. He's certain that she finds his strict half-hour phone call schedule to be odd, but he simply doesn't see a way around it. Half the time he doesn't have enough time for his homework as it is. When hears a knock on his door as soon as he pulls out his math book, he can't help but think that this is another reason he has a hard time finishing his homework. But there's nothing to be done about this either.

"Come on in, Aiden." he calls.

Instantly his door flies open and the little boy comes flying into the room holding a children's book.

"I fell 'sleep on the couch last night 'fore you could read to me. Does that mean I get two stories tonight?" Aiden asks.

"Sorry, buddy. I have a lot of homework tonight. If you remind me, I'll read you two stories on Saturday though, ok?" Sam tells his little foster brother.

The little boy nods happily before marching out of the room, obviously expecting Sam to follow. And he does. Honestly, he needs to just work this into his schedule. His littlest foster sibling has Sam wrapped around his finger and he seems to know it. He gets an amused glance from his foster mother as he heads to the younger boys room to read Aiden his bedtime story. She seems to find how much Aiden has attached himself to Sam adorable.

* * *

One bedtime story later and he's trying to tuck a squirming and babbling six year old into bed.

"I'm 'cited for tomorrow, Sam." the little boy says.

"Why?" Sam asks.

"'Cause I get to see you play football!" the little boy exclaims before throwing his hand over his mouth. "Oh! I wasn't 'posed to say that. It's a secret."

Sam tries his best to hide his reaction, which is something along the lines of 'Not good. Not good, not good_ at all_.'

"You're ... you're coming to watch?" he finally manages to say.

"Yeah. But I wasn't 'posed to tell you. Please don't tell them I told!" the child says, with a slight tone of panic in his voice.

It breaks Sam's heart as he remembers one of the reason's he's so close to this boy. Aiden reminds him so much of himself sometimes.

"It's ok. I won't tell them that you told me. And you wouldn't be in trouble anyway. You're little. You didn't mean to tell me." he says, trying to call the little down.

"Promise?" Aiden asks.

"Promise." Sam says, squeezing the little boys hand.

Aiden sits up and throws his arms around Sam's neck.

"I love you, Sam." the little boy says.

Sam freezes for a moment before he hugs his foster brother back.

"I love you too, buddy." Sam replies.

Aiden is the only person who's told him that he loves him in a very long time. He never planned to let himself get close to anyone here, but Aiden was the first to ruin that plan. This tiny, sweet little boy reminds Sam so much of himself sometimes that there are moments when he can't help but wonder if Aiden could somehow be his younger brother. Then he reminds himself that this is foster care.

He's sure there are a lot of little blond boys that haven't had the best lives. Plus, he's sure that somebody would have realized if they had the same mother and his father should have still been in jail when Aiden was born. At this point he's decided that it doesn't really matter that they aren't biologically related. Aiden is his little brother and he's a main reason that Sam can't screw things up here. He likes being a big brother and he doesn't want to leave Aiden. He just prays that Aiden won't be the one who gets moved either.

He tucks the little boy back into bed before tracking down the other kids and telling them goodnight as well. Then he heads back to his room and sighs when he looks at the clock. Tomorrow is going to be a long day too. He quickly gets started on his homework so he can get as much done as possible before it's time to move onto his workout.

Once he sets his homework away he allows himself to panic again over what Aiden let slip. There goes his plan. He's going to have to tell Quinn before the game that he's a foster child. And then he's going to just hope against hope that the others don't speak to his foster parents. If all else fails, he can always go for the quick "These are my foster parents, Phil and Jessica Turner." before his friends speak. He'd never planned to go for the shock approach, but it would better then letting someone cause an embarrassing situation for everyone.

He's so tired and he wants more then anything to just go to sleep, but he doesn't let himself stop the workout. He can't get fat and he has to build more muscle if he expects to be able to beat Finn out for the Quarterback position next year. He's just pathetic right now. He doesn't have a clue why Quinn stays with him. If he doesn't stop, maybe someday he'll be good enough to deserve her.

So he keeps going for the full two hours and by the time he gets in the shower, he can barely stand he's so exhausted. He collapses into bed and his last thought before he falls asleep is that he really wishes it was tomorrow night already.

* * *

**Author's Note:**So ... it's a better timed update even if it's a little short. I'm going to try and make the next one longer. The further I move into the story, the longer I should be able to make the chapters. Also: This chapter is NOT foreshadowing Aiden being Sam's biological brother, I tried to make that clear but I'm just outright saying it. It's just part of Sam's wishing for a real family.

QS: I'm very happy you like this! And don't worry, I have no plans of breaking them up!


	6. Chapter Five

He's fairly certain that he's the only guy on the team who woke up this morning thinking 'Thank goodness this is the last day of this.'. It's only four thirty in the morning and he honestly has no idea how he's going to make it through the day. Yesterday was a miracle, today is going to have to be an even bigger one. He quickly gets himself ready before focusing on finishing the mound of homework he was given the day before. He thinks that if he wasn't so tired, he likely could have managed to get more done last night. However, there was nothing that could have been done then, so he focuses on the fact that after today he will actually have more time to sleep _and_ to work on his homework and he manages to finish with a little time to spare.

Sam loves it when he makes scrambled eggs for breakfast. Not only does it generally make the kids happy, but it's just about the easiest meal to pretend he's eaten a lot more of when Jessica comes into the kitchen. He spends about five minutes weighing the pros and cons in his head before deciding allow himself a cup of coffee. He's going to need all the help he can get today to stay awake. He's at the table with his coffee and what he has carefully arranged to look like the last few bites of a big breakfast when his foster mother walks him.

"Sam, I've told you that you really don't have to do this every morning." she tells him.

"I don't mind, really. I like cooking." he says.

It's not exactly the truth, but not a lie either. Cooking isn't his favorite thing in the world, but he doesn't really mind doing it either. He eats a piece of toast and the eggs left on his plate while Jessica drinks her first cup of coffee before going to wake up the children. He quickly rinses off his dishes before putting them in the dishwasher and heading to put the clothes he'd washed earlier into dryer. Aiden stumbles out of his bedroom behind Seth as their foster mother goes to wake the girls and Sam hurries into the kitchen to make a plate for Aiden to avoid the mess that would result if the sleepy six year old tried to do it by himself.

The rest of the morning continues in the normal chaotic way that it always seems too. Luckily, Seth actually knows where his shoes are for once and they are able to avoid searching the house before they leave. Sam is dropped off first and he nearly winces when he realizes that if he doesn't want anyone else to hear what he tells Quinn, he's going to have to skip his morning workout and find her before school starts. He promises himself that he'll make up for it this weekend. He'll work it in somewhere.

It doesn't take long to find her, she's exactly where he thinks she will be, in the gym with the other Cheerio's listening to Sue give some rather frightening instructions. He waits by the door for a few minutes before Sue releases the girls and then he walks over to Quinn, forcing a smile.

"Good morning." he says.

"Good morning to you too. Are you actually breaking your schedule for once?" she says with a bit of a smirk.

He hadn't realized he was that obvious. Though, he supposed anyone who spent much time with him would end up noticing. Well, anyone that wasn't Finn.

"I um ... I need to talk to you." he manages to say as he motions towards an empty corner of the gym.

She looks worried as she follows him and he feels guilty even though he can't think of a better way to do this.

"Sam?" she questions once he stops walking.

"I ... I didn't tell you the truth when we first meet." he says.

He realizes that was a bad sentence to start with when he sees her face.

"I mean about the boarding school!" he quickly adds.

"Why?" she says, looking confused.

He decides to just get it over with.

"Because I didn't want anybody to know that I'm a foster kid." he tells his girlfriend.

There's a moment of silence before she looks at him and gives him a half smile.

"I don't care about that. You're still Sam. You're still my boyfriend." she says before she kisses him.

He closes his eyes in relief. That went about ten thousand times better then he had thought it would. It still doesn't quite compute that she doesn't care.

"Really? I was - I mean, I thought you'd be mad at me." he admits.

"I'm not mad. I don't think you have anything to be embarrassed about. But I understand having something you don't want everyone to know. I know that if I was in a new school, I wouldn't want everyone to know that I had a baby last year." she says with a bit of a blush.

"Hey! Anybody who would give you a hard time about that is just a jerk. Nobody does right?" he asks.

"You know, I could you the same thing." she counters.

"Quinn..." he prompts.

"Fine. Sometimes. But it's nothing I can't handle." she says with a sigh.

"You shouldn't have to handle it. I'm really sick of all the idiots in this place." he declares.

"Aren't we all." she comments.

"I just wish there was something we could _do_." he says.

"I know, Sam. We all do. So, was there any reason that you decided to tell me this morning?" she asks, changing the subject.

"Yeah. My littlest foster brother - Aiden - let it slip that they were planning on surprising me by showing up to the game tonight." he tells her.

"Really? Can I meet them?" she asks.

Well, he knew that was coming. He just hopes it won't draw too much attention to them.

"Sure." Sam says.

"So, you said Aiden is your youngest foster brother? You have others? Can you tell me about them?" she asks.

Sam spends the last few minutes before heading to class telling his girlfriend all about his foster siblings. By the time he's done, he's almost excited for her to meet them.

Sam took excessive notes in all his classes, he knew there wasn't a chance he would remember anything otherwise. He's relieved that Quinn seems to understand and avoids the topic of his foster family at lunch. They keep the conversation to the game and their date that night. Sam enjoys the break from his classes as he lapses into his usual routine of listening to his girlfriend while he pushes his food around his plate.

By the time he makes it to Glee, Sam feels like he's already running on fumes. He' forcing a smile and running through more old routines with as much energy as he can manage. He figures that his acting skills are getting extra practice. Mike quickly shows him the old dance moves and he picks up the songs fairly quickly. Mr. Shoue has them stop early and asks them what they fell they could improve on. He writes down the many suggestions (most areom Rachel) before he tells them that he wants them to narrow their song suggestions down to one song each. Rachel is horrified.

"The reason I'm saying this is because I want you each to perform your suggestion for the class." he says.

Surprisingly, Tina's the first one to comment on that.

"What if our suggestion is for a group number?" she asks.

"You can either tell the class that you would like the song to be performed as group number, or you can see if you can get some of the others to sing it with you." he answers.

Finn was beaming excitedly and looking around at all the other boys as Tina simply nodded.

* * *

The first thing Sam notices when he shows up for their final practice is that Coach Beiste has ordered pizza for the whole team. Approximately half a second after that, Finn happily runs past him towards the boxes. Sam bites back a groan. There's no way he's going to get out of this one.

"Come on, Sam! It's good! It's still hot!" Finn says, waving a piece of pizza at Sam.

"I'm going out to dinner with Quinn after the game." Sam tells his friend. He's not going to lose this battle without putting up some kind of fight.

"Yeah, but that's forever away. You should eat before the game. Come on!" his friend insists.

"I'm really ok ... I'll eat a big dinner with Quinn." Sam says before he realizes that he's getting some rather odd looks from his other teammates. "Oh, fine." he says with a sigh as he grabs a piece. He had wanted to actually have some free time Sunday but that was out of the question now. At this rate he'd be spending every spare moment making up for today.

He does his best to keep an eye on Artie, who's looking a little bit too excited for it to only be about the game. Sam is fairly certain that he's figured out where Artie's going with this and while it could be worse, it's still not likely to go over well. At all. Though Sam has managed to get away with only eating one slice of pizza, all of it is gone in an alarmingly short amount of time. Coach Beiste begins to give a pre-game speach and Sam tries his best to listen while reminding himself that if he can just make it though the game and the date, he can actually sleep in tomorrow.

* * *

The game had been going surprisingly well when Coach called them back to her after the second quarter. Sam saw it coming before it happened. Artie glanced at Karofsky and then headed towards him faster then Sam would have thought possible. If Karofsky's yelp didn't draw the crowds attention, the solid minute he spent hopping around the field did. Sam had been right. Artie had decided to go for public embarrassment - and if the look on Karofsky's face was any indication, they were definitely going to have to put Puck's "secret service" plan into action after this.

Sam decided that it was a very good think Karofsky took football seriously, because if looks could kill he was certain that Artie would have been killed at least twenty times during the rest of the game. The rest of the boys in Glee were looking rather nervous as well. Most people would have assumed that with most of the team being that distracted it all would have gone downhill, so when they actually managed to win Sam decided that it was apparently a day for miracles.

* * *

**Author's Note: **The end feels rather ... choppy to me but I litterally know nothing at all about football. I hope you guys liked the rest of it!

Up Next: Quinn meets Sam's foster family ... but she's not the only one who sees them. Also, Sam and Quinn's date!

QS and TJ: I am VERY happy you both like this story! I hope that you will continue reading!


	7. Chapter Six

Sam showers and changes as quickly as possible while ignoring the comments from some of the other guys about him blowing off celebrating with the team again. He honestly doesn't care at this point. The football season is finally over and now he gets to go on a date with Quinn and after that he can sleep. And then hopefully he won't have to be this tired again for a long time. His cell phone beeps as he walks out of the locker room. It's a text message from Ellie that he's just finished reading when Quinn walks up.

"You were so great tonight!" she says before she kisses him.

"You were great too. That routine was ... kinda scary." he replies.

Quinn laughs. "So, when do I get to meet them?" she asks him, being intentionally vague because of the people around them.

"Oh! Ellie just texted me. They're waiting at the car in the parking lot. Come on, I'll take you to them." he tells her.

Quinn grabs his hand and walks to the parking lot with him while they discuss the game, the semi-frightening Cheerios's routine and the little stunt that Artie pulled.

"I'm really worried about him now." she admits.

"I know, I wish he hadn't done that, but we'll keep an eye on him." Sam says.

As soon as he finished the sentence, the door to a van in front of them flew open and suddenly there was a little blond-haired boy bouncing excitedly and calling Sam's name.

"SAM! Sam, Sam, Sam! You were so cool!" the little boy yells as he runs the short distance to his foster brother and reaches for Sam to pick him up.

"Thanks, Aiden." Sam tells the little boy.

"Are you Quinn?" Aiden asks, turning to his foster brother's girlfriend.

"Yes, I am." she replies, smiling at him.

"Oh. You were really cool too. Nobody got hurt right? Jessica said they didn't but it looked like they might have. It was a little scary." the six year old babbles.

"Thank you. We're all fine, it's ok." she replies.

Sam turns to the rest of his foster family, who by this point have all gotten out of the van and seem to be waiting for him to introduce them.

"This is Quinn, my girlfriend." he tells them, hoping that he doesn't look as nervous as he feels.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Quinn. I'm Jessica, and this is my husband Phil." Sam's foster mother says.

"It's nice to meet all of you as well." Quinn replies.

"Well, um... This is Ellie." Sam says, gesturing to the tall, long-haired African-American girl who was currently leaning against the van. The young girl smiles and waves at Quinn as Sam indicates the small, pale little girl with brown hair who is standing next to Ellie before speaking again.

"And this is Anna." he continues. "She's really shy at first." he adds when the little girl doesn't look up.

Sam has barely speaking when Quinn hears "I'm Seth!" and turns to see a Hispanic little boy somewhere between Ellie and Anna's height beaming at her.

"Hi, Seth." she tells the boy.

"And this is Aiden!" Sam announces as he tickles the little boy he's still holding.

The little boy giggles and that seems to break the ice. Sam instantly finds himself surround by his foster siblings as they question him about the game and Jessica begins talking to Quinn.

* * *

Even though they had only split up less then fifteen minutes ago, Sam couldn't help but smile when he saw Quinn walking towards him outside of Breadstix. He loves their Friday night dates, even if both of them are usually tired. He just likes getting to spend time with her, even if it would be nice sometimes if there was another restaurant they could go too. The staff knows them by name at them this point. He can't help but be mildly amused when the waitress evens asks him how the game went.

"They all seemed very nice. I liked them, Sam. The kids are cute. Expecially Aiden." Quinn says after the waitress walks away.

"They are. I .. I really like them. I want to stay with them." he tells his girlfriend.

"Is there a reason that you wouldn't?" Quinn asks, trying and failing to sound casual.

Sam shrugs. "Not really. You just ... never really know for sure." he says quietly.

"How long have you been with them?" she asks.

"Since June." he replies, hoping to avoid where the conversation seems to be going.

"Oh. And, um..." Quinn trails off, not sure how to ask what she wants to ask.

"I've been in foster care since I was about Aiden's age. There's been a bunch of different homes." he says softly.

"That must be hard." his girlfriend says, putting a hand on his arm.

Sam gives her a weak smile. "I just have to accept it. There isn't anything I can do about it. But I'm ok. Really." he insists.

"Ok." she says, smiling. "So, have you picked out your song yet?"

"I have. Do you know what song you want to do now that Mr. Shoue said he only wants one from each of us?" he asks, smiling back at her.

"I do, but it's a surprise. What song did you pick." she counters.

"I'm not saying. Mine's a surprise too." Sam replies.

"I'm curious to see what the others will suggest." Quinn says.

"Me too. I know what Finn's suggesting though - he's pulled all of the guys into it." he comments.

"Really? What is it?" she asks.

"It's called _What if. _He's making all of us come over to his house and practice it tomorrow."

Quinn laughs. "Hopefully you do actually practice. The last time he had the Glee guys over to practice for Glee, Kurt told me that they all ended up playing video games for three hours before Kurt finally got them to stop playing and sing." she tells Sam.

Sam laughs with her as he pictures the scene. "I can definitely see that. But Finn really seems to want to get to perform this song, so I think he'll do better this time."

"Hopefully." Quinn replies.

"So, did your mother get that promotion she was hoping for?" Sam asks.

The two of them continue to talk for nearly an hour before Quinn's phone beeps and she realizes that her mother is waiting outside for her. A glance at the time tells Sam that his foster father will be there to pick him up any minute as well and as he walks Quinn outside, he sees Phil pull up in the van. He kisses his girlfriend goodnight and heads home to finally get some sleep.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Ok, first off - NINE REVIEWS! You guys have no idea how happy every review, story alert and favorite makes me! I hope this chapter will be ok! My sister hasn't beta-read it yet and while I was finishing it up, I found out that a soap opera I watch (One Life To Live) may be about to be canceled, so... I kinda lost focus. Once this chapter is done I'm going to join my friend Average Everyday Sane Psycho (who's writing some amazing Glee stories!) in the Darren Criss Happyness Bubble that is A Very Potter Musical.

SQ: Thank you! I took your advice!

A: Thank you!

**ETA: **I got so sidetracked that I forgot what I had made for this chapter. Since Quinn got to meet Sam's siblings and I like to "dream cast" all my OC's. I thought I'd let my readers "meet" them too.

http : / i141 . photobucket . com / albums / r53 / B00kw0rm_photos / Fanart / TheKids . png

Just remove the spaces and you'll see the graphic I made of who I've "dream cast" as the kids.


	8. Chapter Seven

Sam wakes up to Aiden patting him on the arm and babbling at him.

"... 'n Jessica said to let you sleep but you're sleeping a _long_ time 'n you're always up 'fore me, so I 'cided you needed to be up..." the little boy babbles.

"Good morning, Aiden." Sam saysas he sits up.

"Yay! You're up! Morning, Sam!" the little boy yells.

Sam can't quite believe it when he looks at the clock, he doesn't even remember the last time he slept past ten. Then again, it has also been quite a while since he woke up feeling like he could actually make it through the day. He's relieved that football practice is over and he will hopefully be able to stop wishing for more hours in the day. He doesn't want to focus on that now though. This weekend is for homework, catching up on his workouts and hanging out with his friends - and maybe his foster siblings, considering the fact that Aiden was still sitting on his bed and staring at him. He has two days "off", he can worry about how things will work when school starts back on Sunday night.

"Thank you for waking up." he says to the little boy. It really was a good thing that Aiden had woken him up. He wouldn't have been able to get much of anything done before he had to go to Finn and Kurt's house if he had slept any later.

Sam was barely able to get dressed before he had both Seth and Aiden begging him to play with them. The younger children had him wrapped around their fingers and they knew it. Sam ended up resigning himself to playing with them for about an hour until he announced that it was lunch time and began making sandwiches for all of them - with "help" from Aiden.

* * *

Sam arrives at Finn and Kurt's house a little before one and Finn happily leads him into what Finn deems the Rec Room which now houses Finn's drum set. Sam sees Artie and Kurt talking in a corner when he walks in and both boys greet him before returning to their conversation. It's not long before the doorbell rings and Finn runs out of the room, returning a minute later with Puck who quickly begins a discussion about video games. It seems that the two boys have made up, or at least called some type of truce.

Sam looks between the two groups for a moment before he decides head over to Artie and Kurt. Even with Kurt in another school, he still seems to be very much included in their group of friends and Sam feels slightly left out that he is the only one who doesn't know Kurt very well.

"... and she never seemed to cry this much when we were dating. Mike can't figure out why either. I don't understand!" Sam hears as walks up to the other two boys.

"Hey, guys," Sam says.

Artie gives a wave and Kurt motions for Sam to sit in the other chair.

"Are you talking about Tina?" Sam asks as he sits down.

"Yeah," Artie says "Have you noticed that she cries almost every time she sings in front of us now?" he asks.

Sam nods but Kurt speaks up before he does.

"I'll talk to her. Though if things are still the way they were when I was with you guys, it might just be the shock of actually getting to sing..." Kurt comments.

When Mike walks, in Artie tries to wave him over into the conversation, but Mike shakes his head.

"Actually, I wanted to talk to Sam for a minute," he says.

Sam shoots a confused look at Mike before walking over to his friend.

"So, I saw you, last night. You and Quinn. Was that your family that you guys were with? I just wondered. You don't ever talk about your family," Mike asks.

Sam closes his eyes for a brief moment to prevent panic. He decides to give the simplest answer.

"Yeah," he replies.

"Oh, cool. Are a couple of your siblings adopted?" his friend asks, with innocent curiosity.

There is a long pause while Sam does mildly panic, though he does his best not to show it. Finally he decides to tell the truth and hope that Mike understands as well as Quinn and won't tell anyone else.

"Well ... Ellie is. But, I'm a foster kid. They're my foster siblings," he admits.

"Oh." is all Mike manages to say.

"Please don't say anything to anyone else, Mike. I really don't want everyone to know. I just ... I just want to be normal here. Well, as normal as I can be in Glee club," Sam begs.

"There isn't anything wrong with being in foster care. I don't care about that, and I don't think the others would either. But I get it. If all of us knew ... Finn and Brittany aren't the best at keeping secrets. Neither is Santana. I get it. I won't say anything." Mike says with a grin.

"Thank you." Sam says just as Kurt clears his throat rather loudly.

"What is it?" Finn asks, looking puzzled.

"You invited them all over to practice a song, right?" Kurt says.

"Yeah." Finn replies, still looking just as confused.

"And you want this song to chosen as a Regionals number, right?" his brother prompts.

Finn nods.

"Then shouldn't you actually practice it?" Kurts asks.

* * *

After over half an hour of discussing the song, making various changes and repeatedly singing through it, Kurt sighs loudly from his seat.

"Honestly, the Warblers would kill me if they knew this..." he mumbles before walking over to Finn and taking the copy of the lyrics that his brother is holding out of his hand.

After reading through the lyrics again, he looks up at Finn.

"Split the solo part up," he says.

"Huh?" Finn replies.

Kurt shakes his head, "There's just five of you. Each of you should sing a bit of the song."

Mike looks slightly afraid as he turns to Kurt, "Each of us?" he asks.

Sam decides to stay out of it. He doesn't _want_ a solo on this particular song, but he doesn't want to explain why either. He decides to let the others figure it out for themselves.

"Yes. It's not often done in the competition numbers, but I think it would work well here. All of you are very good singers - yes, even you Mike, I've heard you, there's nothing to be worried about. You should try letting everyone share the spotlight for once." Kurt replies with a look that makes it very clear that no one is to argue with him. And somehow, even though he's with a different group now, no one does.

"I like it." Puck says as the other guys nod.

"Good. You are not allowed to tell anyone that I gave you the idea." Kurt says, shooting all of them what he clearly thinks is a dangerous look.

"Not even the girls?" Finn asks.

"Especially not the girls. I may get along with Rachel now, but she's _paranoid_. She'll decide I'm sabotaging you." Kurt replies while rolling his eyes.

There's a mildly worried look on Mike's face before Finn responds to his brother.

"But you knew all our numbers for Sectionals and you didn't do anything," he says.

"And Rachel doesn't know that. And she never will." Kurt responds, before looking at the others, "Finn knew the Warblers songs too!" he says defensively.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I'm sorry! I meant for there be two chapters out before I had to go on my vacation ... but I've been sidetracked. I managed to get this written though and while I know it could be better, I hope it's ok! I leave for a week in Disney World with my family ... technically tomorrow (it's past midnight here). I'll be gone for a week and then depending on how long it takes me to catch up on everything, I should have a new chapter up in around a week and a half or two weeks.

SQ: I'm very happy that you liked this! Yes, Aiden is adorable and he keeps trying to work his way into every chapter.

July: Thank you!

PS: Thank you very much to my friend Average Everyday Sane Psycho, for her suggestion as to what Mike and Artie would be talking about when Sam walked over to them.


	9. Chapter Eight

By the time Monday came around, Sam decided that he had sufficiently caught up on everything. He went to school without already feeling exhausted for the first time in a very long time. He was actually beginning to look forward to seeing what Finn would decided to talk to him about in the middle of his workout today. Though his interruptions were usually related to either Rachel, Glee or football, they did still have a tendency to be amusing. He decided that today, it would likely be related to the sing the boys were going to sing for Glee. They had spent nearly all day Saturday practicing until Sam was sure he would still remember exactly how to sing that song when he was ninety.

What Sam hadn't been prepared for was for Finn to come in already drenched in slushie.

"Well, I guess there's no hiding it from mom and Burt this time." he said with a shrug "I hadn't changed shirts yet."

"You okay?" Sam asked his friend who was still wiping the red liquid from his face.

"Yeah. I was just closer to here then the bathroom. I figured I would go ahead and ask you if you would be ok performing the song in Glee today before I cleaned up. I know we'll have a few days but ... I wanted to go ahead and do it," Finn said.

"Sure, that's fine with me." Sam said, watching his friend with a bit of concern as Finn walked out to go through the after-slushie routine they had all gotten so used to.

Sam sighed. This did not bode well for the rest of the day. They already had to keep a close eye on Artie and now Finn had gotten slushied before school even started. Well, he'd already changed out of the shirt he'd come to school in. He was beginning to hope that the two extra shirts would get him through the day.

* * *

He didn't even make it to lunch before his first slushie attack of the day. He knew he wasn't as good as the original New Directions members, but he thought he'd gotten pretty good at rinsing slushie out of his hair, wiping it off the rest of his body and changing shirts at high speeds. He was still two minutes late to his next class, but luckily it was his Spanish class. Mr. Shoue took one look at his wet hair before sighing and simply telling him to sit down.

Under normal circumstances, the foreign language requirement would have thrilled Sam, but he had decided at the beginning of the year it would be best to let himself have one "easy" class. While it was required to take a foreign language class, nobody ever said he couldn't already know that language. Besides, he could learn German on his own when he got the chance. He had taught himself Spanish, French and Italian and then, as if to prove his nerdiness to himself, Latin and Na'vi. Teaching himself German wouldn't be a big deal if he could ever find the time.

Artie had the same lunch period as Sam and his last class before lunch was fairly close to Sam's. As such, it was Sam's turn to be on Artie Watch. Artie, it seemed, had figured that out as well.

"So, you're my bodyguard this time?" he commented when Sam walked over to him.

"Yeah, pretty much." Sam replied after a moment of silence.

"I can take care of myself!" the other boy insisted.

"Look, we know you can. But Karofsky has a lot of friends and they are all going to be really mad. None of us would do well against that many people. I know that at least Finn and I have already been slushied today. Safety in numbers, you know?" he told his friend, hoping to calm the other boy down a bit.

"You guys too?" Artie asked "They got Mike last period, I saw get hit as after he walked away from my class to head for his. He wouldn't let me help him."

Sam was getting a bit worried. Three of them in a day was fairly normal. Three in a day before lunch wasn't always that unusual anymore, but three in day before lunch when he hadn't even spoken to half of the club? He was beginning to think Karofsky was a bit angrier then he had thought.

He split off from Artie once they got into the lunch room and once he had his lunch he met up with Quinn at their table.

"Hey, Quinn!" he said, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Hey, Sam." she replied with a giggle.

"I know this is a bit random," he started "but have you been slushied today?" he asked.

She smiled, "Karofsky and his minions are stupid, but they aren't that stupid. Last I checked, they're still afraid of Coach Sylvester. Not even Kurt got slushied when he was wearing his uniform." she told her boyfriend.

"Kurt was Cheerio?" was the first thing Sam asked.

"Last year, yeah. I actually don't think the Cheerio's would have won nationals without him. I don't know why he quit this year," she said.

"So ... you, Santana and Brittany are safe from the slushies?" he asked.

"Yeah, as long as we're in uniform. Why? Does this have anything to do with the fact that I saw Rachel slushied earlier? It doesn't happen to her as often as it does to Finn now, but she's always gotten slushied fairly often." Quinn replied, looking a bit guilty.

"Actually, I didn't even know about Rachel. I was asking because Finn, Mike and I have all been slushied already, Finn was hit before school even started. I was a bit worried that with what Artie did, they might have decided to try and hit us all today." he explained.

"I hope not," she responded.

They spent the rest of their lunch period trying to guess what songs the others would suggest for Regionals. Quinn gave Sam a questioning look when she noticed him throwing away nearly all of his lunch, but he brushed it off with a shrug before heading to his next class.

* * *

Sam's suspicions had been mostly confirmed when he had noticed both Mercedes and Tina with wet hair before Glee. He had also noticed Finn in a different shirt then the one he'd seen him wearing before lunch. He himself had gotten his second slushie of the day shortly after making that observation. He had been extremely confused when Puck had walked over to him grinning like a manic on the way to Glee.

"I think Lauren totally traumatized Thompson earlier." Puck happily stated, referring to another boy on the football team.

"Why?" Sam asked carefully.

"We got couple slushied earlier, but she grabbed Thompson before he ran off. She did some awesome wrestling moves before she promised to slushie _him_ next time she saw him. He totally ran away as soon as she let him go." Puck said with a laugh.

Sam decided that he was very glad that Lauren was on their side now. They had nearly gotten to where they were meeting Artie when Sam spotted the ring of boys all wearing their red and white jackets. They broke into a run at once, but almost instantly they heard a splash just before at least eight different boys ran off, leaving Artie soaked through and surrounded by plastic slushie cups.

* * *

**Author's Note:** This is a little later then I had planned, but not only did it take a while to catch up - though the trip was great, the day we got back home my dad found out the company he'd gotten picked up onto in February (He's a sheet metal worker) had to lay off thirty percent of their workers, and they did it starting with the newest. So he's been laid off again just about two months after he started work again after a two month lay off. So ... things are tense here. I could get a lot more detailed, but this is a fan-fic, not a diary, so I won't.

I'm sure you have noticed that this is no longer written in the first person. It came naturally at first but ... I can't go it anymore. It had gotten to the point where keeping the story in first person was making each chapter take at least twice as long and I just couldn't do it anymore, I will re-write the earlier chapters as soon as I get the chance. Also, I'm writing the next chapter now and will likely put it up as soon as it's finished. It was all going to be one chapter, but I keep getting called away and sidetracked and ... this seemed like a good stopping point.

_Review Replies:_

Anon - I'm very glad you are liking the story and I hope you had fun in Disney World too!

july - I'm so glad you liked the chapter! I'm glad the ending made you laugh, it was meant to be funny!

A fan - I'm very glad you like this story and I appreciate your suggestion - I'm always open to suggestions - but I don't think I will take this story in that kind of a direction. With everything going on with Sam, I don't think he's ready for that and the way I'm writing Quinn I don't see her as being ready for that again either.

SQ - I hope you liked the little moment between them here! There's some cuteness coming up after they both perform their songs, so I hope you will like that.

2710HSW - I'm so happy you liked it!

So, before I go I do have one question for you guys. Does anyone have any (clean - my baby sister reads this) song suggestions for the Gleeks to suggest for Regionals? I have songs for Rachel, Finn, Sam, Quinn, Tina and Mercedes and I do already know which three will be used for Regionals. I would like to have a couple of other songs to mention titles or a few lines of though.


	10. Chapter Nine

Sam sprinted to Artie's locker after getting the other boys combination from him and after grabbing Artie's change of clothes, he quickly headed for the bathroom Puck had wheeled Artie into. Artie was blushing bright red by the time Sam got back and he looked to be fighting off tears. Sam couldn't blame him. He had said he was ready for whatever Karofsky had coming, but Sam supposed it was hard to really be ready for something like that. Sam just hoped that now that Karofsky seemed to have gotten to his Grand Finale of the day, he was done.

As soon as he got his clothes Artie quickly shut himself in the handicap accesable stall to change. Both of the other boys waiting for him to be done and helped him to rinse the slushie out of his hair before they headed to Glee as a group. Artie, still blushing, wheeled himself straight to Brittany who began petting his hair in attempts to fix it. Mr. Shoue hadn't yet showed up, so they decided that meant they weren't technically late.

"So ... I think everyone but Quinn, Brittany and Santana got slushied today. I got hit twice." he said in attempts to take the attention off of Artie even though most of the group likely realised that the reason they had all gotten slushied in one day was most likely do to what Artie had done to Karofsky.

The rest of the group nodded, Rachel mentioning that she had gotten hit twice as well. Puck took this as an introduction and began telling the rest of them about what Lauren had done as Lauren tried and failed not too look thrilled at him raving about her. It was a bit sad that they were all so used to being slushied that things were, for the most part, back to normal when Mr. Shoue walked in.

"I hope you all have decided on the songs that you want to suggest for Regionals! Who wants to go first?" he asked.

It surprised no one that Finn and Rachel's hands went up at nearly the same time and it surprised no one who had been paying attention when Finn let Rachel go first. It had been very clear to everyone that they would be dating again within a few weeks.

"I would like to suggest 'I Run To You' by Lady Antebellum. I believe that it would be a perfect duet for my self and Finn to perform at Regionals." Rachel stated as soon as she had made it too the front of the room. She nodded at the band before she began singing.

_"I run from hate, I run from prejudice  
I run from pessimists, but I run too late  
I run my life or is it running me, run from my past  
I run too fast or too slow it seems_

_When lies become the truth_  
_That's when I run to you"_

Rachel made a point of looking at Finn, who was already smiling. Sam decided that maybe a few weeks had been a bit of a high estimate.

_"This world keeps spinning faster  
Into a new disaster so I run to you, I run to you baby  
When it all starts coming undone  
Baby, you're the only one I run to, I run to you_

_We run on fumes, your life and mine_  
_Like the sands of time slippin' right on through_  
_And our love's the only truth_  
_That's why I run to you_

_This world keeps spinning faster_  
_Into a new disaster so I run to you, I run to you baby_  
_When it all starts coming undone_  
_Baby, you're the only one I run to, I run to you_

_Whoa, oh, I run to you"_

Rachel waited for applause for running to a still beaming Finn, who kissed her on the cheek (Sam guessed it was to avoid a lecture from Mr. Shoue) before happily gesturing for her to sit next to him. They held hands for a minute before Puck finally spoke up.

"Dude, we're supposed to sing now," he informed his friend.

Finn quickly got up and headed for the front with the other guys.

"So, um, I think the guys should sing this one. The girls could do the chorus with us or something though. Oh! It's 'What If' by Plain White Ts." Finn said just before the music started and he began singing his first solo part.

_"__What if nobody likes me?  
What if I don't succeed?"_

Sam did his best not to think about what he was singing as he began his part. Kurt had actually ended up decided who got which part and half wondered if the boy was psychic.

_"What if I give it all that I've got  
and I still don't got what they need?"_

The other boys joined to sing with him for the next part.

_"What if I don't get anywhere at all?  
Will I consider myself a failure, will I be that small?"_

Mike looked as though he was considering running out of the room and he ended up closing his eyes before his part.

_"What if she doesn't like me, what if I'm not her type?"_

Puck sang his part while looking pointedly around the room before his eyes landed on Lauren.

_"What if all the girls that ever like me  
Are not the kind of girls that I like?"_

Artie's gaze quickly shifted from Tina to Brittany as he sang his part, luckily, it was before either girl seemed to notice.

_"What if I meet the right one and screw it up?  
Will I consider myself a failure, will I give up?"_

All of the boys joined in for the chorus and Sam noticed that most of the room seemed to be rather happy with the way the song had been arranged.

_"I'm gonna keep trying  
getting denied just makes me want it more  
I'll keep trying and each time push harder than before  
I can't live my life always worried about what if  
'Cause what if I die tomorrow  
Then I never even lived"_

They continued the song in the same fashion, each of them singing small solo's before coming together in the chorus.

"That's actually a pretty good song. You were great!" Quinn said as Sam sat back down next her.

"Thanks." Sam replied, following Finn's earlier lead and giving his girlfriend a kiss on the cheek.

Quinn ended up being the one to perform the last song of the day.

"I chose 'Mine' by Taylor Swift and I would like to sing it as a solo." Quinn said, winking at Sam before she began singing directly to him.

_"__You were in college, working part-time, waiting tables  
Left a small town and never looked back  
I was a flight risk, with a fear of fallin'  
Wondering why we bother with love, if it never lasts_

_I say, "Can you believe it?"_  
_As we're lyin' on the couch_  
_The moment, I can see it_  
_Yes, yes, I can see it now_

_Do you remember, we were sittin' there, by the water?_  
_You put your arm around me for the first time_  
_You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter_  
_You are the best thing that's ever been mine"_

Sam couldn't help but smile as his girlfriend sang to him. Little details aside, it was a pretty good song for them.

_Flash forward, and we're takin' on the world together  
And there's a drawer of my things at your place  
You learn my secrets and figure out why I'm guarded  
You say we'll never make my parents' mistakes_

_But we got bills to pay_  
_We got nothin' figured out_  
_When it was hard to take_  
_Yes, yes_

_This is what I thought about:_

_Do you remember, we were sittin' there, by the water?_  
_You put your arm around me for the first time_

_You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter  
You are the best thing that's ever been mine_

_Do you remember all the city lights on the water?_  
_You saw me start to believe for the first time_  
_You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter_  
_You are the best thing that's ever been mine"_

Sam did his best to ignore the varying reactions to the minor public display of affection he initiated when his girlfriend finished singing.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Here is your second chapter in one day! I hope it's ok! I've never written singing before,


	11. Chapter Ten

It was Tuesday morning and Sam was looking forward to performing the song he had chosen to suggest that afternoon. He had spent his whole "Glee hour" the night before practicing his song, interrupted only for the few minutes it took to chase his giggling foster brothers around the yard and back into the house when he had caught them (or rather, heard them) listening to him practice. He wanted it to be perfect, but he knew it likely wouldn't be anywhere near as good as the song Quinn had sang. The song itself, however, was perfect for her, so he hoped that would balance things out.

It seemed to be a better day so far. Though he had seen Finn and Artie both heading for the boys bathroom, with clothes in hand and covered in blue liquid, they were the only ones who seemed to have been hit yet. Considering the fact that they had been together, he figured it was also likely that Karofsky had only been going after one of them. At the moment Sam wasn't sure who the original target would have been. General he would say Finn, considering the fact that it was becoming rare for Finn to be seen twice in a row wearing the same shirt, but with recent events, it could have been either of them.

The sudden pain of hitting a locker jolted him out of his thoughts and for a moment he panicked, caught up in memories that apparently couldn't be pushed far enough away in six months to not come rushing back in an instant. When he brought himself back to reality he noticed a few people staring, he quickly shrugged and tried to pretend that he had simply had the breath knocked out of him before walking casually away. Pain in his back told him he had hit the lock and experience told him that it would bruise, but a bruise on his back was easy to hide. He'd hidden worse. He headed for his next class while reminding himself that this was why getting lost in thought in the hallway was a bad idea.

* * *

"So, who do you think will sing today?" Quinn asked shortly after she had joined Sam at lunch.

Sam pretended to think for several moments before answering, "Why, I just don't have any idea."

Quinn laughed, "So a certain blond, singing football player isn't going to sing today?" she questioned.

"Well, he might. You never know." Sam joked, winking at his girlfriend.

Quinn shook her head at her boyfriend's antics. "I wonder who else will sing today. I bet Mercedes will, I really thought she would have wanted to go yesterday," she said.

"Yeah. And I know Puck has something planned that he's excited about, but I don't know when he's going to do it," Sam told her.

Quinn shook her head, "Well, if nothing else, that will be amusing," she commented.

"He was talking about it with Kurt, Saturday." Sam informed his girlfriend.

"Good. It can't be to catastrophic or Kurt would have talked him out of it. I hope," she replied.

Sam nodded as he looked at his lunch tray and tried to decide what would be the safest thing to eat.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually liked Rachel's song yesterday. I really liked the song you guys did too. What did you think of yesterday's songs?" Quinn asked.

They discussed the possible Regional's songs until the bell rang and Quinn turned to kiss Sam before leaving.

"Can't you at least give me a hint about what you're going to sing?" she asked as they pulled away from the quick kiss.

Sam thought for a moment.

"Tirol lu teri nga, tiyawn." he said before winking at her and walking away.

* * *

Sam and Quinn shared a smirk when the first person to sing during Glee was Mercedes, who announced that her song was a solo. Sam hadn't heard the song before, but he thought it was a pretty good fit for her.

_"I've seen this all before_

_Such a tired scene_

_You want to be like her_

_But she just wants to get in between_

_Of what you're meant to be_

_And who you really are_

_Which is nothing like her_

_What you've got is so very far_

_Away from all this superficial"_

Sam didn't miss the fact that Mercedes was looking directly at Tina as she sang and a quick look at Artie told him that his friend had noticed it too. It wasn't a stretch to think that this might have something to do with why Tina had been crying so much.

_"Don't you know you are extraordinary_

_There's no one like you, you are the one and only_

_If you could see how beautiful you are_

_You don't need to be anything but what He's made you_

_You're in his hands, to Him you belong to_

_Don't you know how beautiful you are"_

Even though a bewildered Mike was now holding a crying Tina, Mercedes continued to sing to her friend through the rest of the song. Though the club applauded when she finished, it was hard to tell how well everyone had liked the song with everyone's attention on Tina. Mike had started looking even more confused - and slightly panicked - after the second verse and Tina had calmed down just enough to tell him that it wasn't him before she ended up in tears again. It took quite awhile for things to calm down enough to continue.

Sam decided to take a page out of his girlfriends book and wait to perform at the very end. When Mr. Schue announced that the next song would be the last, Sam nervously made his way to the front.

"Well ... this is the song I chose. It's called 'She's Everything' and it's by Brad Paisley. Um, I'd like to sing it as a solo." he said before the music began.

_"__She's a yellow pair of running shoes  
A holey pair of jeans  
She looks great in cheap sunglasses  
She looks great in anything  
She's 'I want a piece of chocolate'  
'Take me to a movie'  
She's 'I can't find a thing to wear'  
Now and then she's moody" _

He locked eyes with Quinn the moment that he started singing. He took it as a good sign that she hadn't stopped smiling yet, even if she had rolled her eyes at him after the last couple of lines he sang.

_"She's a Saturn with a sunroof  
With her blonde hair a-blowin  
She's a soft place to land  
And a good feeling knowing  
She's a warm conversation  
That I wouldn't miss for nothing  
She's a fighter when she's mad  
And she's a lover when she's loving _

_And she's everything I ever wanted  
And everything I need  
I talk about her, I go on and on and on  
because she's everything to me"_

He supposed that tears were a good thing if she was still smiling. He he was a little nervous about the next part, but he hoped she took it the way he meant it - that he loved _everything _about her.

_"She's a Saturday out on the town  
And a church girl on Sunday  
She's a cross around her neck  
And a cuss word 'cause its Monday  
She's a bubble bath and candles  
'Baby come and kiss me'  
She's a one glass of wine  
And she's feeling kinda tipsy"_

Her eyes had widened a bit there and her smile fell a little, but she didn't look angry, so he kept singing. She had already accepted his promise ring, so he hoped she would take the next part well even though they were young.

_"She's the voice I'd love to hear  
Someday when I'm ninety  
She's that wooden rocking chair  
I want rocking right beside me  
Everyday that passes  
I only love her more  
Yeah, she's the one  
That I'd lay down my own life for"_

Her smile was back at full force and she was crying again. If his smile got a little bigger too while he did a mental happy dance, well, he couldn't help it.

_"And she's everything I ever wanted  
And everything I need  
I talk about her, I go on and on and on  
because she's everything to me_

Everything I ever wanted  
And everything I need  
She's everything to me  
Yeah shes everything to me  
everything to me"

She was kissing him before he'd even put his guitar down. They got lost in their own little world for a moment before Mr. Schue cleared his throat. Blushing, they headed back to their seats as their teacher began his end-of-class speech.

"What did you say to me in the lunch room?" Quinn asked, still beaming at her boyfriend.

"Tirol lu teri nga, tiyawn," he repeated.

At her blank look he explained, "The song is about you, love.".

* * *

**Author's Note: **I hope you guys liked this one! You got a bit of Sam's past, a hint at what's wrong with Tina _and_ some Sam and Quinn romantic fluffy stuff. Mercedes' song was 'Who You Are' by Chelsie Boyd, the lyrics are not online, but you can find video of her singing it on Youtube.

A - I'm so glad you are still liking this story!

Tessie - I'm so happy you like the story! Here's another update for you!

tj - I'm glad you liked the chapter. I wasn't rushing last time, that all would have been one chapter but I kept getting interupted and I wasn't sure when I could finish, so I went ahead and uploaded the first part of the chapter before I finished the second part.


	12. Chapter Eleven

**Author's Note 1: **Warnings: From this chapter onwards there will be hints/mentions of various forms of child abuse, some will likely get more detailed as the story goes on. This story features several characters in foster care and as such, it wouldn't be realistic any other way.

* * *

Sam couldn't quite fight off his yawn as he headed into the kitchen to start breakfast. It had been a bad night for Anna the night before and when she woke up screaming from her nightmares, it woke the rest of the house as well. It had taken nearly half an hour for Jessica and Ellie to calm her down and though Anna never let any of the boys near her after a nightmare, Sam always hovered in the hallway outside the girls' room until she stopped crying. He could never make himself leave until he knew that she was mostly ok again. Some nights it took him longer to get back to sleep then it did her. Anna had a tendency to cry herself back to sleep, but he always ended up starring at the ceiling for what felt like hours with his heart breaking for the little girl he was coming to see as a baby sister.

It was always hard to get his mind of of the reason that she woke up screaming. He knew the basic stories of all his foster siblings. He's been in foster care for nine years and he's heard the stories of so many children, but he still can't wrap his mind around how anyone could ever hurt a kid. Once his thoughts get to that point, it's usually the time that the little voice in the back of his head reminds him that he was younger then Ellie when first arrived at his last foster home and after a mental arguement with himself, he ends up lost in his own memories until he falls asleep. More often than not, he wakes up from his own nightmares after that, thankful that at least he usually doesn't scream.

Last night had been one of those nights. He'd spent quite a while telling himself that it was silly to still have those nightmares, that what had happened to him was nothing compared to what had happened to Anna, that he hadn't been little, not like Aiden and that he really just needed to get over it. He repeated that to himself while he pretended that he wasn't curled into a ball and shaking. He never had gotten back to sleep.

And so, after around two hours of getting both some extra studying done and extra workout time, he was cooking breakfast. He was rather happy that french toast wasn't really too hard to make. It had become a tradition that if any of the kids had a nightmare, Sam would make their favorite breakfast the next morning. He had made a lot of french toast since Anna was placed with them. It wasn't long before he had a few stacks of french toast on the table and he had just started eating the piece he had picked out for himself when his foster mother walked in. He nearly kicked himself when he yawned again just as she looked at him.

"Oh, Sam," Jessica sighed, "Did you get back to sleep at all?"

"I'm fine." he replied, avoiding her question.

"Sam." she said, making it obvious that she didn't believe him.

"Really, I'm fine." he insisted.

"I wish that you could understand that we're supposed to take care of you too, not just the little ones." she told him, shaking her head.

Sam shrugged, not sure how to respond.

* * *

"You look tired again." Quinn stated in concern as she sat next him in the cafeteria.

At the questioning look on his face, she continued. "You've almost always looked tired. You seemed better the last couple of days, so I thought maybe it was just football, but you look tired again," she said.

"Oh. Oh, I'm fine. It's just - Anna had a nightmare last night and she kinda woke us all up. I ... couldn't really get back to sleep." he said, leaving out the fact it wasn't until after his own nightmare that he had given up on sleep for the night.

"I'm sorry," she told him.

"Oh, it's fine. I'm a little tired, but I think I'll survive," he joked.

"Is Anna ok? Does she have nightmares a lot?" Quinn nearly whispered.

"I think she'll be ok now that she's with us. She does have nightmares pretty often though. She had it rough." he explained in nearly as quiet a voice.

Quinn looked as though she wanted to ask another question before she seemed to decide that it wasn't a topic for school.

"We should finish the song suggestions today. There's only a few people left," Quinn commented.

"Yeah. I've kinda liked seeing what everyone chose," Sam replied.

"Me too. Three guesses as to what my favorite song has been." she said with a smirk.

It took him a moment to realize that she was flirting and she meant his song. Fighting down a blush, he replied "Why, I have no idea."

* * *

Sam had to admit that he was slightly shocked when Tina actually did get up to sing. In the confusion the day before, all that had been made clear about whatever was wrong with Tina was that Mike had nothing to do with it. After pondering the lyrics to the song Mercedes had chosen to direct at her friend and the fact that he knew Mercedes would do something if her friend was in danger and anything could be done, he now had a working theory. That theory indicated he had another reason to hate the bullying that went on at McKinnley.

"I've been kind of nervous about this, but after Mercedes' song yesterday I think I can do this. I'm going to sing 'Firework' by Katy Perry and if it was chosen, I'd like it to be a number for all the girls, like the song Finn suggested for the boys." Tina said before she started singing.

_"Do you ever feel like a plastic bag,  
drifting through the wind, wanting to start again?  
Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin  
like a house of cards, one blow from caving in?_

_Do you ever feel already buried deep?  
Six feet under screams but no one seems to hear a thing."_

Tina was obviously putting a lot of emotion into the words she was singing. There were tears in her eyes, but her voice stayed strong.

_"Do you know that there's still a chance for you.  
'Cause there's a spark in you.  
You just gotta ignite, the light, and let it shine  
Just own the night like the 4th of July_

_'Cause baby you're a firework  
Come on, show 'em what you're worth  
Make 'em go 'Oh, oh, oh'  
As you shoot across the sky-y-y  
_

_Baby, you're a firework  
Come on, let your colors burst  
Make 'em go 'Oh, oh, oh'  
You're gonna leave 'em all in awe, awe, awe"_

By the end of the first chorus Sam knew that this song would definitely have his vote to be a Regionals number, and by the looks of the rest of the group, most of the others seemed to agree. Tina was still crying when she finished the song but Sam thought she had done a wonderful job. It was the best that he had ever heard from her.

* * *

They only had about ten minutes left when Mr. Schue turned to Puck.

"You're the only one who hasn't gone yet, it's your turn," he said.

Puck grabbed his guitar and made his way to the front with a smirk on his face.

"I was saving the best for last," he commented.

Sam was beginning to wonder if he should be as worried as some of the girls looked.

Without introducing the song, Puck began to play.

_"The dawn is breaking  
A light shining through  
You're barely waking  
And I'm tangled up in you, yeah"_

Sam decided that the look on his teacher's face might be even better then the looks on the faces of his friends. He didn't recognise the song yet, but Lauren definitely did if her expression as Puck sang straight to her was any indication.

_"I'm open, you're closed  
Where I follow, you'll go  
I worry I won't see your face  
Light up again_

_Even the best fall down sometimes_  
_Even the wrong words seem to rhyme_  
_Out of the doubt that fills my mind_  
_I somehow find you and I collide"_

Now Sam recognised the song and it seemed like the rest of the group did as well, even if most of them looked baffled.

_"I'm quiet you know"_

There was a collective bit of laughter there before Puck continued.

_"You make a first impression  
I've found I'm scared to know  
I'm always on your mind_

_Even the best fall down sometimes_  
_Even the stars refuse to shine_  
_Out of the back you fall in time_  
_I somehow find you and I collide"_

Most of the song seemed to work oddly well for Puck and Lauren, even if it wasn't the kind of song any of them had pictured Puck singing. Rachel had an amusing look of pride on her face and from watching Finn, Sam was starting to get the feeling that he had known what Puck was planning. Sam strongly suspected that meant either Kurt or Rachel had been involved in the song choice.

_"Don't stop here  
I lost my place  
I'm close behind_

_Even the best fall down sometimes_  
_Even the wrong words seem to rhyme_  
_Out of the doubt that fills your mind_  
_You finally find you and I collide_

_You finally find you and I collide_  
_You finally find you and I collide"_

Sam nearly did a double take when he saw tears in Lauren's eyes before she marched straight to Puck and kissed him. Puck's shocked expression would be a source of amusement for a while, Sam decided. Once Puck finally seemed to remember where he was he addressed the group.

"That was 'Collide' by Howie Day and obviously, I'd either want it as a solo or a duet with Lauren." he said before happily heading back to sit with Lauren.

"I'm really proud of all of you." Mr. Schue said, addressing the group. "You've all come up with some really great suggestions. You guys have the night to consider which three you would like us to perform. We'll vote on it tomorrow."

* * *

**Author's Note 2:** I hope that everyone liked this chapter! Things are kind of crazy in my life right now, it's kind of very similar to the canon storyline going on with Sam, except for the fact that we are still doing our best to not lose our house. I will still do my absolute best to keep this regularly updated though, I promise!

_Tessie_: I'm very happy that you liked the chapter! No, what's going on with Tina really does have nothing to do with Mike.

_SQ: _I'm so happy you liked it! I will try and have some more Sam and Quinn cuteness, but this is not a romance story, so the focus will stay on other things. This is still pretty much the "build up" phase but it won't be long before the story really gets going.


	13. Chapter Twelve

Sam was nearly finished with his morning workout and was beginning to wonder where Finn was. In a stroke of luck, he'd had very little homework the night before and so he had been able to rearrange his schedule and get to bed a little earlier then usual. That, combined with a nightmare-free night for his household had left him feeling a lot better then he had the day before. He couldn't help being a little afraid that something else might make up for that. Considering the fact that he had been tempted to just add his morning conversations with his friend into his schedule, Finn suddenly not showing up worried him.

He was beginning to get used to Finn's daily babbling. His friend always seemed to have something he was bursting to tell someone about and since Sam was the one who could always been found in the same place, Sam was the one who got to hear all about whatever was on Finn's mind. He hoped that Finn had just called Kurt this time, or maybe he had run into Rachel. Finn did seem to mention quite often that he would have to tell his brother or Rachel about whatever he was talking about later.

He had almost convinced himself that it was nothing to worry about when Finn finally walked in. He suppressed a groan. Why did he always have to be right about things like that?

"You alright?" Sam asked, eyeing the split lip his friend was sporting.

"I'm fine. Karofsky was being a jerk. I told him to shut up and he didn't like that much. It's nothing." Finn said.

"Are you sure you shouldn't say something to your parents?" Sam said carefully. He was getting so tired of people that he cared about getting hurt. Most of the time, by the time he got to know someone they had already been hurt, so if there was something he could do to _stop_ Finn and the others from being hurt, he wanted to do it.

"What's the point? They'd just worry and there's nothing they can do. The school board won't do anything about this and even I _wanted_ to go to a different school we couldn't afford to have me and Kurt at Dalton. This isn't like what happened to Kurt, nobody's threatened to kill me or anything and I can take care of myself. It's fine," Finn insisted.

"Ok." Sam replied, deciding to drop the issue for the moment.

There was a moment of slightly awkward silence before Finn spoke up again. "I beat my own high score last night! On _two_ games!"

* * *

"You know, I can't help but be excited that tomorrow we're actually going to get to go to dinner at a normal time again." Quinn commented as she sat down.

Sam laughed, "Yeah, that will definitely be nice. I'm sure Phil will appreciate it, he won't be picking me up at such a ridiculous time. He swears that he didn't mind it though."

"I'm sure he didn't." Quinn commented, "They seem really nice."

"They are. I really like it here. It's so much better then..." he trailed off, catching himself and blushing. The last thing he needed was to say that to her. Especially in school. He hoped that she hadn't heard him.

"Sam..." she started. He fought off the urge to either run or bang his head against the table. She had definitely heard him.

"What is it so much better then, Sam?" she asked softly.

"Nothing. I don't even know what I was going to say." he lied, wincing internally even as he said it.

"Sam, please don't lie to me." she replied.

That was all she had to say, he knew there was no getting out of it.

"It's so much better then my last home." he whispered.

She reached for his hand under the table and held it. "What happened?" she asked gently.

"I ... I really don't want to talk about it. Please. Especially not here. I'm fine now, really. I don't want to talk about it or think about it anymore. Please." he nearly begged.

"Ok." she said, nodding. "So, what songs do you think we'll end up doing for Regionals?"

* * *

For once, Mr. Schue was already in the choir room when Sam got there. Sam took a seat next to his girlfriend as their teacher began writing the names of each song that had been suggested on the white board. By the time he had finished and pulled out a hat, paper and pens, the rest of the group had made their way into the room.

"Ok, guys, today we are going to choose our set list for Regionals!" Mr. Schue announced.

"Who's going to wear the hat?" Brittany asked.

"Each of you will get a piece of paper to write your top three favorite songs on. Once you've finished, fold your paper and put it in the hat. I will read each person's choices and tally the votes here." he said, gesturing to the white board.

He began handing out paper and pins to the group as he quickly added, "You can't vote for your own suggestion."

Rachel looked mildly horrified at that addition to the rules and pouted for a moment, but most of the others quickly began writing. Sam glanced around the room before he began, noting Artie whispering to a confused looking Brittany and gesturing at the list of song titles and Finn staring at the list, obviously still trying to decide what to vote for.

Sam looked at his paper for a moment before writing down his three choices, 'Mine', 'Firework' and 'I Run To You'. As soon as he finished writing, Quinn nudged his arm and he showed her his list. She smiled before tilting her own paper so he could see her choices, 'She's Everything', 'What If' and 'Firework'.

They both folded their papers and quickly headed up to put them in the hat. The rest of the group had their papers turned in within another few minutes and they all watched as their teacher began tallying up the votes. 'Firework' and 'What If' were clear front runners, likely due to the fact that those songs promised solos for everyone but it was unclear what the third song would be. In the end, 'I Run To You' won by two votes.

"You guys are nuts! 'Collide' was the best, but no, you had to let those two do another one of their stupid cutesy little duets!" Lauren yelled before she stormed out of the room with Puck running after her.

There was a moment of stunned silence before Mercedes spoke up, "Oh, calm down. She'll come back once she realizes they both get solo's anyway."

* * *

"Sammy!" was the first thing that Sam heard when he walked in the door of his foster home.

Within seconds a tiny blond boy had collided with his legs. "Did you guys pick your songs? Did they pick your song? I liked your song." Aiden babbled.

Sam laughed as he picked the little boy up and hugged him. "Yes, we picked our songs but we didn't choose mine." he told him.

"Why? Your song was good." the little boy pouted when Sam sat him down.

"There were better songs, buddy. We picked two songs that made it so that everyone could have a solo." he told his foster brother.

"What's 'solo' mean?" Aiden asked.

Sam couldn't help but laugh again, "It means we each get to sing a little bit by ourselves." he explained.

"Oh!" the little boy said, his eyes lighting up "So we'll get to hear everybody sing?"

"Yep!" Sam replied.

"That's so cool!" Aiden exclaimed before running back to the dining room table and going back to the paper and crayons he'd abandoned when his foster brother got home.

Sam quickly got out his homework and decided to join Aiden at the table. He wanted to spend a little extra time with his foster brother before the whole club had to go into full pre-performance mode. The next couple of weeks were going to be very busy.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I hope that you all liked this chapter! After this, there's a time skip that leaves them just a couple of chapters from Regionals and then things will start moving, not all at once, some things have to happen before others, but it should hopefully be a little more interesting. I have the prologue and the first two chapters edited to fix the tense now, but I haven't gotten to the rest yet. I should soon!

_tj_: Thank you!

_Tessie_: There was going to be one more chapter before the time skip, but I decided put all the important stuff in this one and make the time skip the next chapter. Things will start moving faster after that, I promise. This is going to be a fairly long story though. We're quite a long way from the ending. We're still quite a long way from the middle. And, thank you!


	14. Chapter Thirteen

It was two weeks later, the day before Regionals and Sam was really beginning to question why New Directions took so little time to prepare their compitition set lists. The last several days they had begun staying after school in the choir room to practice, the older ones driving home any younger ones who's parents couldn't pick them up. The upheaval of his routine nearly gave Sam a heart attack before he decided to compensate by removing his practice at home from his schedule. He had taken to singing during his workout and nearly all of them had taken to singing in the hallways, though that really wasn't going over well with the rest of the student body.

The extra practice at Kurt and Finn's house over the weekend had been mostly devoted to getting the dancing down and insuring that if nothing else, Finn at least wouldn't knock someone over. When Kurt had ventured into the room there had been a shout of "Spy!" from Rachel which had led to a showdown between the two of them that resulted in the majority of the others backing away slowly. She had finally allowed his presence only when he pointed out that they needed someone who could help Finn practice the dances at home. By the time Sam had left, Kurt and Rachel were laughing together as though they had never fought a day in their lives. Sam wasn't sure he would ever understand some of the relationships in the group.

There was only one practice left before they left for Regionals in the morning but Sam thought they had finally gotten everything together. Brittany finally remembered the lyrics and they had gotten Finn to the point where actually had the moves down fairly well. It wasn't perfect, but New Directions rarely seemed to go for perfect perfomances and somehow the fact that they weren't quite perfect seemed to be what worked for them. He always pushed the implications of that into the back of his mind. That was how the group worked - that was them, not _him_. It wouldn't work for him.

He was half way to his next class when he got a reminder of the lesson he thought he'd learned about getting lost in thought in the hallway. Out of no where there was a splash and then he was cold and wet and his face was stinging.

"Break a leg tomorrow, loser! Please." he heard as one of his so-called football "teammates" retreated down the hallway, laughing. The football team really wasn't much of a team at all in Sam's opinion.

He wiped the slushy from his face before calmly heading to his locker for one of his extra shirts. Again. It was almost amusing that the only people in the school who seemed to remember that the Glee club had a compition the next day were the ones who wanted to torment them about it. He was about to change into this third shirt of the day and he didn't think he was the only one. He noted that at least he wasn't accumulating new bruises nearly every day like Finn was, but that fact was bringing on a whole new set of worries.

He sighed as rinsed his shirt out in the sink and tried to figure out how doing laundry was going to fit into his schefule tonight. His schedule was always thrown off on Fridays, but most of the time he could make up for it the next day. Usually on Saturday mornings he could get up early as usual wash the shirt or shirts that he had been slushied in the day before without anyone noticing anything different. This Saturday, however, he wouldn't have time for that, which meant he needed to get it done tonight. It also meant that he was going to have to make up for a lot of missed workout and homework time on Sunday.

* * *

Sam sat back in his seat as the girls ran over their solo parts in Firework again. He had almost pittied Mr. Schue a bit when they'd begun splitting up the solos for that song. Rachel had wanted a longer solo, Santana had wanted a different solo and there had been a lot of arguing between most of the girls while Brittany had simply sat off to the side drawing pictures of rainbows. Eventually they had gotten to the point where everyone was happy and now they were just making sure that they would all (translation: Brittany) remember when their part started.

Finn had told Sam privately that Rachel had insisted on practicing their duet so much that he wasn't sure he would _ever_ forget it, but he then assured his friend that she always did that. The duet was the one song Sam wasn't worried about it. There was no chance of Rachel messing up the number and she wouldn't let Finn mess it up either. However, considering the fact that as sweet as she was, Brittany's head was permenently in the clouds and Mike still looked a little green at the thought of singing by himself in front of people, Sam figured he had good reason to worry a bit about the other two numbers.

He still wasn't very thrilled with the contents of his solo and he was still wondering if Kurt was a little bit psychic because either the other boy was extreamely perceptive or it was just a bad case of dumb luck. Then again, the whole reason they were doing a song that sounded like his thoughts put to music in the first place was dumb luck, so he decided it wasn't really that much of a stretch. At least the boys hadn't ended up fighting over who sang what part, they had all been content to stay with the parts that Kurt had assigned them.

As they all got up to run through the routines again, Mr. Schue paced the room giving last minute notes.

"No, Brittany, you don't sing there, ok?"

"Can you guys do that move a little faster?"

"Ok, look at her on that line."

"No, Finn, spin the to left. Your other left."

"Santana, glaring at your teammates won't go over well on stage."

"Can someone help Artie there?"

By the time he was done, Sam wasn't really sure if they had improved or if they were all just even more nervous. Winning Regionals was important. It didn't just mean going to New York, it meant proving that even if they were losers for singing they were _good_ losers. Not that the other students would likely care, but at least they could remember that. And just because he had already made sure to confirm with his social worker that he could go to New York if it was a school related trip didn't mean he was excited for it. He was just being prepared.

It wasn't like none of the others were already making plans. They had all been talking about what it would be like to go to New York. Rachel wasn't even the only one that had been caught with a list of places she wanted to see. For a bunch of small town kids, most of whom had been born and raised in Lima, the idea of going to such a big city _was_ exciting. He knew that there would be no small ammount of disapointment if they ended up losing. They would be nothing if not determined the next day.

* * *

**Author's Note: **This took longer then I planned, mostly due to my mother getting me hooked on an epic length story from another fandom, but I'm finally back with this chapter. I'm not really happy with this one, I hope it's ok. However, the next chapter will be Sam and Quinn's date and I plan to have it up pretty soon. After that we're on to Regionals and moving the story forward! Yay!

_hey_: Thank you! As I just mentioned the next chapter should be their date. I'm afraid there won't be a ton of fluff in this story though unless it's in the form of hurt/comfort fluff.

_tj_: Thanks you!

_A_: Oh, it's fine! I'm very happy that you are still liking the story. And thank you, it hasn't really gotten better yet, but at least it hasn't gotten worse!

_Tessie_: Oh, you have no idea how happy that makes me!

_SQ_: I've very happy you're still liking this! And like I said above, things haven't gotten better but they aren't worse either - but thank you so much! The more I think about, I don't think the canon storyline was that out of the blue, I can see some things that might hint towards it a bit, but I do think they hinted at other things with Sam (like an eating disorder) that need to be followed through on as well.

_Emily_: I'm so glad you are still liking this! I'm fairly certain that I'm incapeable of writing anything but happy endings, so take from that what you will. ;)


	15. Chapter Fourteen

Sam and Quinn had ended up heading to the restaurant straight from school as their final practice had ended up lasting much longer then usual. The whole group was filled with so much excitement and nervousness that Sam wondered if any of them would be able to sleep that night. It was a different feeling then when he played football, but he supposed that was because performing with New Directions was something he really loved. Joining the glee club was one of the best decisions he had ever made. They might be crazy sometimes, but he had more fun with them then he'd had in a long time.

As they were led to their usual table by their usual waiter, Sam decided that he really needed to find somewhere else to take Quinn on date on occasion.

"It's kind of exciting that Regionals is tomorrow. Everyone's been hoping all year that we would make it to Nationals and now tomorrow we'll know." Sam said.

"Yeah. It's ... a little sad too though." Quinn replied, looking down at the table.

Sam wracked his brain for a moment before he remembered what he had been told about last year's Regional's competition. He felt like the world biggest idiot as he struggled for what to say.

"Quinn ... I'm sorry." he finally managed.

"It's not - it's not the actual day. That's in two weeks and two days. But it was the day of Regional's last year. It's almost been a year." she said quietly.

He reached across the table and took her hand, not knowing what to say, but wanting to comfort his girlfriend in some way.

"I know that I couldn't have taken care of her the way she deserved - we couldn't have. And she seems happy. Shelby sends letters and pictures every few months, you know, and we saw her in August and ... she really seemed happy. She'll be ok. I still miss her though." Quinn told him with a far away look in her eyes.

He cringed inwardly at the reminder of the fact that Puck had a child with his girlfriend, that there was a little girl out there who was Quinn's daughter with Puck. He shoved the thought out of his mind as soon as it occurred and gave Quinn's hand a gentle squeeze before he spoke.

"I know it's hard for you." he nearly whispered, still not sure of what else he could say.

Quinn wiped at her eyes and blushed before responding, "She's fine and we'll get to see her again on her birthday. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have let myself get so worked up. We're supposed to be on date."

"Don't apologize. I don't care where we are, I don't want you to ever think you have to hide how you're feeling from me." he told her.

"You don't have to hide anything from me either, you know." she said softy.

He closed his eyes for a moment while he tried to figure out how to respond. It was different for him. He was such a mess. To much of a mess for her to have to deal with. She deserved so much better then him and he knew she would figure it out eventually, but he didn't want to that moment to come any sooner then it had too. It wasn't that he wanted to hide things from her, it was just that he was so afraid of what would happen if he didn't.

"I don't want to hide things from you. I just really, really don't like to think about ... before I came here." he said, looking away.

"It's ok. I won't make you talk if you don't want to." she replied gently.

"Thanks." he said with a half smile "I would much rather talk about you, you know."

"Really?" she said, smirking.

"Always. We didn't really get to talk in Glee. How did your test go?" Sam asked

"I think I did pretty well. What about you, didn't you have a test too?" she replied.

"Just a Spanish test." he said dismissivly.

"Just Spanish?" Quinn questioned.

"I thought I had told you..." he said with a bit of a blush.

"Told me what?" she asked, looking confused.

"Well, I kind of had a lot going on when I signed up for classes and I wanted an easy class so ... I sort of signed up for a language I already knew." he told her, looking embarrassed.

"You didn't!" she laughed.

"Well, there was nothing that said you had to take a language you couldn't speak yet." he explained with a smile.

"So you speak Spanish and Na'vi?" she asked.

"And a few others." he added, blushing a bit again.

"A few?" she said with a questioning expression, obviously wanting more information.

"I sort of taught myself French, Italian and Latin too." he replied.

"Sam!" she said, laughing again.

"What?" he asked, looking confused.

"My boyfriend is apparently some kind of language genius and he never saw fit to tell me." she said, teasing him.

"I didn't think it was that big of a deal." he said, blushing for what felt like the millionth time that night.

She simply shook her head and continued laughing.

* * *

"So ... how did your date go?" Ellie asked as soon as she saw him.

"It went fine, Ellie." he told his twelve year old foster sister.

"You should let Quinn come have dinner with us next time. She seemed nice, I want to see her again and so do the others." Ellie said with the typical slightly demanding air of a pre-teen girl trying to convince someone to do what they want.

"Ellie, I don't know if Phil and Jessica would like that." Sam said.

"Dad!" Ellie called.

"What is it?" Phil asked, sticking his head back into the room.

"Can Sam bring Quinn over for dinner next Friday?" she asked.

"Ellie!" Sam said, worried and more then a little embarrassed.

"Of course! We'd love to have Quinn over. You should ask her." Phil replied, smiling at Sam before walking back out of the room.

Ellie smirked at her foster brother, "See? It'd be fine. Now you should ask her." she said.

"Why do you want her to come over so much?" Sam asked suspiciously.

"Because she's dating you and we want to get to know her better. We won't really get to see her tomorrow. Anna wants to see you sing, but you know she'll freak out once it's over and there's so many people moving around at once. We'll have to take her straight out to the car again." the young girl explained.

"You guys don't all have to come, I know how Anna gets in crowds." he said guiltily.

"We want to. She wants to. I just said that!" she responded while rolling her eyes.

"I just..." he started.

"You know the little ones have nearly been bouncing off the walls wanting to watch you sing with your group since you had Sectionals." Ellie said, cutting him off.

"I guess." he replied, giving up for the moment.

* * *

"I can't wait for tomorrow! It's gonna be awesome!" Aiden said, bouncing a bit in his bed.

Sam laughed at this six year old's antics, picking up the pillow the little boy had knocked off the bed. "You have to sleep before you can come watch us though." he told Aiden.

"I'm to 'cited to sleep!" the little boy insisted.

"But the sooner you go to sleep, the sooner you'll wake up." Sam reasoned.

"I know. I just really, really, really wanna see you sing!" Aiden exclaimed.

"You see me sing outside all the time." Sam replied, trying to calm the little boy down.

"But you're not on a stage outside. And your friends aren't singing with you outside." the six year old responded.

"You can't see it until you go to sleep though. You have to sleep before you can watch the competition." Sam said as he tried to tuck the squirming little boy in.

"You're gonna be great, Sammy." Aiden said, smiling up at his foster brother.

"Thanks buddy. Goodnight." Sam said as he stood up to leave the room.

"Night!" Aiden called from his bed.

Sam smiled as he shut the door and headed for his room, sure that Aiden would still be awake in half an hour when Seth went to bed. He hoped that the next day would go as well as his foster siblings seemed to think it would.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I swear, I keep _trying_ to write fluffy Sam and Quinn scenes but as soon as I start writing they somehow go off into the dramatic. I'm bad at fluff. Anyway, I hope this is ok. The next chapter is the start of Regionals! That will be two/three chapters ... I think.

_tj_: Thank you!

_hey_: I'm sorry there wasn't more dialouge, I really didn't like the way that chapter came out. I hope you liked the Sam and Quinn interaction here. They can't interact in every chapter, but I'll try to have a good bit of them together. Thank you for the review!

_A_: Thank you so much! I think I flailed over this, I was going "Somebody pointed out a specific line that they liked! I'm not sure that's happened before for this story! And I didn't even think that chapter was any good!". You definitely will find out a lot more about Sam and his past, it'll just take a while for everything to come out.

_Tessie_: Thanks you! Here's another chapter and then next one shouldn't be too far off either. 


	16. Chapter Fifteen

Sam still couldn't quite believe that his entire foster family would be coming to watch him sing - and that they really did want to. Jessica had been the only one to come at Sectionals, Seth had a visit with his mother, Aiden had been sick and Anna had only just came to live with and she was still very nervous, so Phil had stayed with the children and Ellie stayed to help him. Sam had been shocked when he'd seen Jessica pull out a video camera and tape not only all of New Directions songs, but all of the Warbler's songs and the announcement of the winners as well. He had never had someone video tape anything he'd done before.

He'd stood in shock when Jessica had refused to tell her husband or the other children who had won and had instead headed straight for the TV and began to set everything up to play the recording of the performance. He had watched his group as well as his friends group perform again from the living room of his foster home with his foster siblings cheering and occasionally singing along. He'd been tackled in a group hug when the tie was announced. The children had then insisted on watching his duet with Quinn three more times. That day was one of his very favorite memories.

Knowing that they would actually be there this time thrilled him but it also made him even more nervous. For some reason, the kids really seemed to look up to him and he would hate for them to see him lose. Of course there was always the chance that he would also have to deal with another Mike situation, but as Ellie had said, Anna would need to leave as soon as the winners were announced so it wasn't very likely. If it happened, he would deal with it, he'd handled it with Mike and he would handle it again if he had to. It wasn't really that he didn't want his friends knowing anymore, even though he was still embarrassed, it was that he didn't want the whole school knowing and the more people who knew, the more people who could slip up.

Phil had dropped Sam off at the school that morning so he could ride to Regionals with the rest of the group. New Directions had to be there early but his foster family would follow soon. The bus was an amusing mix of people chattering excitedly and people who had fallen back asleep. Quinn was in the latter group and was currently using his lap as a pillow. He looked at the people around him. He considered them all friends, he might not be very close to all of them, but cared for each of them. He knew that a year ago he could never have imagined himself where he was in that moment, heading to a singing competition with eleven friends and knowing that six other people would be there just to watch him. As silly as it seemed, he actually did pinch himself to make sure it wasn't all just a dream.

* * *

The Warblers had arrived a few minutes after New Directions and Finn had instantly grabbed a bewildered Kurt and hugged him as though he hadn't seen him in months before he dragged Kurt over to the rest of their group where the boy was passed around for individual hugs before they somehow all ended up in a group hug.

"You perform two groups after us, so I'll be watching you! I know that you'll be wonderful." Kurt told them.

"We're watching you too! There's no way I'd miss my little brother's performance!" Finn declared.

"You might be competing with a different team right now, but it doesn't matter what school you've had to go to, you will always be one of us." Rachel had said, shocking the few who hadn't paid enough attention to notice the growing friendship between the two.

"Yeah, it's like she says," Puck announced, pointing in the direction of Mercedes, "glee club is family. And family's forever, doesn't matter where you are." he finished, patting Kurt's shoulder in a sufficiently manly way and effectively shocking the rest.

"Good luck, Kurt." Mercedes had called as he started to head back to the Warblers.

"Thank you. Good luck to you too." Kurt replied with a sad smile before walking towards the large group of boys who instantly began questioning him.

"I want Kurt back." Brittany had stated and for once, they all agreed with her.

* * *

_"Right right, turn off the lights _  
_We gonna lose our minds tonight _  
_What's the dealio? _  
_I love when it's all too much _  
_5 AM turn the radio up _  
_Where's the rock and roll?" _

A boy that Sam easily identified as Blaine Anderson (from the simple fact that Kurt had informed boys in confidence that Blaine seemed to sing every solo) sang, beginning the second number for the Warblers. He might have only known Kurt for a few weeks, but Sam still found it weird to see him singing with another group. He glanced at the faces of his friends as the song continued, he could tell that some of the others still found it weird as well, while others simply seemed to be enjoying the song. Finn, Rachel and Mercedes however, had looked proud.

_"So raise your glass if you are wrong _  
_In all the right ways _  
_All my underdogs, we will never be, never be _  
_Anything but loud _  
_And nitty gritty dirty little freaks _  
_Won't you come on, and come on, and _  
_Raise your glass _  
_Just come on and come and _  
_Raise Your Glass!" _

Sam had to admit that the other group had chosen a rather catchy song and wondered if it would effect their chances for good or bad if the judges found themselves unable to get the song out of their heads. He was reminded again that there wouldn't be any outcome from the competition that would be anything more then bittersweet. If New Directions won, it would mean that their friend didn't and he knew from Finn that Kurt was just as excited about the possibility of going to New York as Rachel was.

The group watched the rest of their friend's performance and cheered as loudly as they could before heading backstage to prepare for their own songs. Mercedes ran through making sure that everyone's costumes were correct while Mr. Schue went to double check that the band had the correct music. Half of the group was pacing and singing under their breath while most of the others were trying to pretend they weren't nervous.

"If we win this, we're going to spend a lot more time on the Nationals set list." Finn commented.

"Do you all remember the dances? Does anyone have any last minute questions about it?" Mike asked quickly.

Brittany decided to take that as her cue and instantly began running through the dances without the music. Sam couldn't repress a smile when he noticed Finn watching her intently, obviously his friend was still worried about his dancing skills - or perhaps his lack of dancing skills.

"This is it." Rachel said firmly, "There isn't anymore time to practice. We've got our songs and we know that they're great. We're going to go win this. There is no other option. We're going to win and we're going to Nationals in New York."

Sam put his arm around Quinn's shoulder and kissed her cheek. "We can do this. It will all be ok." he whispered as they saw their teacher heading for them.

* * *

They had decided to once again make their traditional entrance. Finn and Rachel were each waiting behind a door for the music start and the others were waiting of to the side of the stage. In a few seconds the music would start and there would be no going back. Sam took a deep breath and did his best to push all the nervousness away. He would do his best and he would have fun, there wasn't anything else that could be done at this point. Then he heard the music start. The spotlight hit the door to the left and Finn walked out and began the song.

_"I run from hate, I run from prejudice _  
_I run from pessimists, but I run too late" _

As he finished the line a second spotlight hit a door on the right and Rachel stepped out.

_"I run my life or is it running me, run from my past _  
_I run too fast or too slow it seems" _

Finn joined her as they began to walk towards the stage.

_"When lies become the truth _  
_That's when I run to you" _

The rest of the group took their cue and ran out on to the stage before they each spun in circle, beginning the dance routine that Mike and Brittany had taught them and singing along with Finn and Rachel.

_"This world keeps spinning faster _  
_Into a new disaster so I run to you, I run to you baby _  
_When it all starts coming undone _  
_Baby, you're the only one I run to, I run to you" _

By the time the chorus was over, Finn and Rachel were on the stage and they began the second part of their duet before the rest of New Directions joined in again on the chorus, this time with Finn and Rachel dancing as well.

_"We run on fumes, your life and mine _  
_Like the sands of time slippin' right on through _  
_And our love's the only truth _  
_That's why I run to you _

_This world keeps spinning faster _  
_Into a new disaster so I run to you, I run to you baby _  
_When it all starts coming undone _  
_Baby, you're the only one I run to, I run to you" _

Rachel closed her eyes as she sang her next solo line.

_"Whoa, oh, I run to you" _

The music stopped as the group began the last chorus with only their voices.

_"This world keeps spinning faster _  
_Into a new disaster so I run to you, I run to you baby _  
_When it all starts coming undone _  
_Baby, you're the only one I run to" _

Rachel and Finn turned to face each other before their next line.

_"I run to you, I run to you, yeah" _

Finn smiled as he performed his final line.

_"Whoa, oh, I run to you _  
_I run to you girl, whoa" _

Rachel took another step towards her boyfriend and finished out the song before turning to face the audience.

_"I always run to you _  
_Run to you, run to you" _

The audience applauded and the group gave a collective sigh of relief before they moved to their starting positions for the next song, the boys stepping to the front and the girls to the back. One song down, two to go.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I hope you guys like this. I'm kind of nervous about the way I'm indicating who sings each part, but I want you guys to understand exactly how the songs are being performed and I'm not sure how else to go about that. Part two of Regionals is already done and will be up in a day or two, I promise.

_hey_: I'm very glad that you like everything with Sam and Quinn! I hope you like this chapter too! Thank you for your review!

_tj_: Thank you!

_A_: Oh, that's so sweet! *hugs* Thank you!

_Tessie_: I'm glad you like the scenes with Sam and Aiden, those are fun to write. Aiden's just too cute! Thank you for the review! 


	17. Chapter Sixteen

This was the part that Sam was looking forward to the least. He was just grateful that he didn't have to open the song, that was Finn's job again. They only had a few seconds to get into position before the music started and Finn stepped forward while the girls began to dance in the background.

_"What if nobody likes me? _  
_What if I don't succeed?" _

Sam took another deep breath before stepping forward to sing his first solo part.

_"What if I give it all that I've got _  
_and I still don't got what they need?"_

The other boys joined with them for the next line.

_"What if I don't get anywhere at all? _  
_Will I consider myself a failure, will I be that small?" _

Sam glanced at Mike before the other boy began to sing his line and hoped the judges didn't notice the rather terrified look on his face.

"_What if she doesn't like me, what if I'm not her type?" _

In contrast to Mike's expression, Puck proudly stepped for his part.

_"What if all the girls that ever like me _  
_Are not the kind of girls that I like?" _

Artie rolled forward to join the other boys and sing his first part of song.

_"What if I meet the right one and screw it up? _  
_Will I consider myself a failure, will I give up?" _

As Artie sang his line the boys spread out while the girls stepped forward to join them for the chorus.

_"I'm gonna keep trying _  
_getting denied just makes me want it more _  
_I'll keep trying and each time push harder than before _  
_I can't live my life always worried about what if _  
_'Cause what if I die tomorrow _  
_Then I never even lived" _

The girls moved back again as Finn sang his next line.

_"What if they don't like me _  
_what if they think I'm a joke?" _

Sam took his position, happy that this would be the final part he would sing alone.

_"What if they act nice to my face _  
_But they hate me and I don't even know?" _

They changed the order after that, with Puck singing instead of Mike.

_"What if they end up stabbing me in the back _  
_Will I consider myself a failure or will I fight back?" _

This time the boys backed up to join the girls for the chorus.

_"I'm gonna keep trying _  
_getting denied just makes me want it more _  
_I'll keep trying and each time push harder than before _  
_I can't live my life always worried about what if _  
_'Cause what if I die tomorrow _  
_Then I never even lived" _

Mike looked a little less terrified then before when it was his turn to sing.

_"What if nobody likes me _  
_what if I don't succeed?" _

Artie took his place after Mike giving the final solo line of the song.

_"What if I give it all that I've got _  
_and it's not good enough till I bleed?" _

The boys joined in with him after that, singing together and continuing to put as much energy into the number as possible.

_"What if I don't get anywhere at all _  
_Will I consider myself a failure, will I be that small?" _

The girls stepped forward for one final time as they finished out the song.

_"NO! _

_I'm gonna keep trying _  
_getting denied just makes me want it more _  
_I'll keep trying and each time push harder than before _  
_I can't live my life always worried about what if _  
_'Cause what if I die tomorrow _  
_Then I never even lived" _

There was another moment of applause as the music stopped and they changed position again, with the girls taking the front of the stage for their song. The music started and the group started off with a fairly simple dance as a spotlight hit Quinn and she began the song.

_"Do you ever feel like a plastic bag, _  
_drifting through the wind, wanting to start again?" _

As Quinn finished, Rachel stepped into the spotlight.

_"Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin _  
_like a house of cards, one blow from caving in?" _

Rachel quickly changed places with Mercedes, giving her friend a smile as the other girl began to sing.

_"Do you ever feel already buried deep? _  
_Six feet under screams but no one seems to hear a thing." _

Another switch was made as Lauren marched into the spotlight.

_"Do you know that there's still a chance for you. _  
_'Cause there's a spark in you." _

The spotlight went out and the whole stage lit as the girls sang together and danced their way towards the boys.

_"You just gotta ignite, the light, and let it shine _  
_Just own the night like the 4th of July" _

The boys joined in and began a more complicated dance number which was slightly different then how Mike had first wanted it because of the fact that there were two more girls then boys.

_"Cause baby you're a firework _  
_Come on, show 'em what you're worth _  
_Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh" _  
_As you shoot across the sky-y-y _

_Baby, you're a firework _  
_Come on, let your colors burst _  
_Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh" _  
_You're gonna leave 'em all in awe, awe, awe" _

The spotlight returned and Santana happily stepped into it.

_"You don't have to feel like a waste of space _  
_You're original, cannot be replaced" _

Santana moved to allow Brittany to sing her part as the other girl began to sing the line that she had been thrilled to get.

_"If you only knew what the future holds _  
_After a hurricane comes a rainbow" _

Brittany to a quick step back as Tina moved in and sang her line.

_"Maybe your reason why all the doors are closed _  
_So you could open one that leads you to the perfect road" _

Once again the spotlight disappeared and the girls all sang together.

_"Like a lightning bolt, your heart will glow _  
_And when it's time, you'll know _

_You just gotta ignite, the light, and let it shine _  
_Just own the night like the 4th of July" _

The boys the quickly joined the girls so New Directions could finish the song out together and began the part of the dance that had given Finn the most trouble.

_"'Cause baby you're a firework _  
_Come on, show 'em what you're worth _  
_Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh" _  
_As you shoot across the sky-y-y _

_Baby, you're a firework _  
_Come on, let your colors burst _  
_Make 'em go "Oh, Oh, Oh" _  
_You're gonna leave 'em all in awe, awe, awe _

_Boom, boom, boom _  
_Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon _  
_It's always been inside of you, you, you _  
_And now it's time to let it through-ough-ough _

_'Cause baby you're a firework _  
_Come on, show 'em what you're worth _  
_Make 'em go "Oh, Oh, Oh" _  
_As you shoot across the sky-y-y _

_Baby, you're a firework _  
_Come on, let your colors burst _  
_Make 'em go "Oh, Oh, Oh" _  
_You're gonna leave 'em all in awe, awe, awe" _

The group finished with their hands thrown in the air and couldn't help but beam at the standing ovation they received.

* * *

After watching the rest of the choirs perform, New Directions headed backstage to wait for the judges to make their decision. Kurt headed straight for the group as soon as he spotted them, hugging his brother and his best friends again as they all began raving about how wonderfully each other had done. A few of the others made their way over to the rest of the Warblers and began talking to them while all of the choirs waited for the news.

"You were wonderful, Quinn." Sam told his girlfriend.

"So were you. Do you think we'll win?" she responded.

"I hope so. I think we've got a good chance." he said with a smile.

"Me too." she agreed.

Before either of them could say anything else, Finn ran up to them.

"The list of the top three is up! Come on!" he said before running off, with Sam and Quinn behind them.

The Warblers were already standing in front of the list and cheering when they got there. They quickly made their way through the crowd and joined in the celebrations when they saw the list. New Directions and the Warblers had made the top three.

* * *

Standing on the stage with the other two group while an annoying long speech was made had to be the worst part of the competition, Sam decided. All they cared about was finding out who won and the waiting was beginning to drive him nuts at this point and from the looks of his friends, he wasn't alone. Quinn had taken his hand in her nervousness and most of the other couples had done the same. They held their breath for a moment when the woman finally seemed ready to announce the winners.

"Coming in second place is ... The Dalton Academy Warblers!" she revealed dramatically.

The crushed faces of the Dalton boys were hard to watch and New Directions couldn't decide if they should be happy that they were still in the running or sad for their friend. They didn't have long to think about it before the woman spoke again.

"And the winner of the 2011 Regional Show Choir Competition is ... McKinnley High's New Directions!"

* * *

**Author's Note:** I hope you guys liked the rest of Regionals! With Regionals over, it won't be long until some of the more ... dramatic plotlines start. I do want to note the fact that I have had the lyrics for 'Firework' saved on my computer spilt up this way for months, I was rather shocked when I saw how close the music video for The Glee Project was to the way I had planned the song in this story.

_hey_: Thank you! I'm glad you like the idea of him being a foster child so much!

_tj_: Thank you!

_A_: I try to update this fairly often whenever I have time to, but I don't doubt that sometimes things will happen to put off chapters for longer then I intended. Thank you! I like writing the scenes with Sam's foster family, there will definitely be a good bit more of them.

_Tessie_: Thank you so much! 


	18. Chapter Seventeen

Once Sam had managed to get away from the four children who had declared themselves his biggest fans, he had spent much of the what was left of the weekend catching up on his homework and workouts. The time he had left was spent helping around the house, playing with the kids or talking to Quinn. It certainly wasn't the calmest weekend he'd had, but considering that he now knew he would be going to New York for Nationals, he decided it was definitely worth it.

The first few days back at school had gone fairly well, if Sam forgot about the slushie facials congratulating them on officially being the biggest losers in the state. There was also the little fact that Finn had shown up at Glee on Monday with a black eye he hadn't had that morning. Sam had gone straight to Mrs. Pillsbury-Howell the next morning only to be told that nothing could be done if Finn wouldn't report it himself - which Sam knew he wouldn't - and then she had lowered her voice and said that she really wasn't sure anything would be done even if he did report it. The teachers were quickly losing faith in Principal Figgins and the school board as well, it seemed.

* * *

Sam walked into his Spanish class on Thursday trying to put the fact that he'd just watched his best friend get slammed into a locker out of his mind. Sam had tried to go check on him but Finn had insisted he was ok and again refused to tell anyone before he walked off. It was killing Sam to watch his friend be hurt and not be able to do anything to stop it. He hated not being able to protect people he cared about. He felt helpless and it reminded him far to much of things that he didn't want to think about.

When Mr. Schue had handed out the day's assignment, Sam attempted to use it as a welcome distraction, but it wasn't hard enough to hold his whole attention for long. He answered each question with ease as he continued to fight off bad memories. Spanish had been the first language he had learned and it came nearly as easily as English to him. Sam was so lost in thought that he didn't realize he was the first to turn his paper in until he had gotten back to his seat. He spent the rest of the class trying to get his mind on something else. It didn't work.

* * *

He headed to lunch still trying to figure out what they could do about the bullying when no one who could do anything about it cared.

"What's wrong?" Quinn asked as he sat down.

"Karofsky and his stupid minions are officially on my last nerve," he replied.

"Did you get slushied again?" she asked.

"They slushie me at least every other day now, I'm used to it. That's not why I'm upset," he said.

"Then what's wrong?" she questioned, sounding worried.

"They won't leave Finn alone. They slushied him before he even changed his shirt this morning, I saw him get shoved into another locker earlier and you've seen that black eye. They won't leave him alone and he won't even tell his parents! I don't know what to do. He's my best friend." Sam ranted as quitely as he could.

"You aren't the only one that's noticed," Quinn said, sighing, "Nobody really knows how to help. Lauren says Puck's threatening to pull the "bodyguard" thing on Finn though if shows up with another bruise."

"That might be a good idea at this point. It's gonna make him mad though." Sam replied, shaking his head.

Quinn nodded before changing the subject. "So, are you excited for New York?" she asked.

"Definitely! I agree with Finn though, we really should start practicing sooner this time. We can't expect to win Nationals if we throw the whole set list together at the last minute." Sam replied.

"I know, but it's Mr. Schue we need to convince." Quinn pointed out.

"True, but he should realize it, right? I mean, it's Nationals." he said.

"You never know. Anyway, you said the kids liked our performance, what exactly did they think?" she asked.

Sam rolled his eyes and laughed a bit "Well, Aiden apparently went to school on Monday telling everyone that New Directions is his favorite band and I caught Anna and Ellie watching the recording Jessica took of it again last night. They really liked it a lot. Ellie's even saying she wants to be in Glee when she starts high school." he told his girlfriend.

"When will that be?" Quinn asked.

"Ellie's in seventh grade so it'd be our senior year if I'm still here." Sam explained.

"Oh, don't think that way Sam. You will be." Quinn said.

"It's always a possibility. You never know if anything is permanent." He replied softly.

"Oh, Sam." she nearly whispered.

He took a deep breath before responding, "But I'm not going to let anything take me away if I have anything to say about it. I'll find a way. I don't want to leave this place."

Quinn smiled at him before commenting, "I don't know if I've ever heard anyone say they didn't want to leave Lima."

"It's not Lima I don't want to leave. It's this foster family, my friends ... you. I don't want to lose it all." he said, looking down.

Quinn put her head on his shoulder, "I'd give just about anything so you could know you wouldn't have to." she said softly.

They stayed that way until the bell rang and they both headed for their next class.

* * *

Sam was sitting next to Quinn and talking quietly to her when Mr. Schue walked in.

"Sam, I have been trying to come up with ideas to raise money for National's but I just can not come up with anything, do you have any ideas?" the teacher asked.

"Not really, sir, but I can think about it." Sam answered.

It wasn't until Sam noticed the look on his teachers face that he realized the question had been asked in Spanish and he had responded in the same way. He supposed that he should have realized never scoring anything below a 99 in that class might raise suspicions.

"Um ... I've had a lot going on sir, I've always been pretty good with languages, but I thought it might make everything easier if I took one I already knew. I'm sorry." Sam said, blushing.

"Well, that would explain how you answered every question right today even though you seemed to be a million miles away." the man told his student.

Sam simply nodded.

"Wait ... 'One you already knew' ... Sam, how many languages do you speak?" Mr. Schue asked.

When Quinn noticed Sam's increasingly embarrassed look, she replied for him, "He speaks speaks five languages. Six if you count Na'vi."

Their teacher looked slightly shocked for a moment before he spoke again, "Well, I guess there's no real reason for you to take another class then." he said he with a sigh.

"You never told us you were some kind of genius." Puck said with a smirk, having overheard the whole thing.

"I'm just good with languages. It's really not that big of a deal." Sam insisted.

Quinn kissed Sam on the cheek before rolling her eyes at the other boy. "Sam actually knows how to be humble, unlike you." she stated.

"My awesomeness is no secret. It can't be hidden, so there's no reason for me to try." Puck replied, smirking again before heading to sit next to Lauren.

"I think that's cool, Sam." Mercedes said, "Puckerman's just jealous because he barely speaks English." she continued a little too loudly.

"Hey!" was the comment from the back of the room and she smiled at getting the desired effect.

"Thanks." Sam replied, trying not to laugh at over-exaggerated expression of hurt on Puck's face.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I hope you guys liked this chapter! I've gotten a little ahead now so hopefully updates will stay pretty regular for a while. If I can just stop re-writing parts of the next chapter, you'll have it soon. It's a "big moment" chapter so I'm trying very hard to make sure it comes out right.

_Tessie:_ Thank you! As I've said before, romance isn't the main focus of this story so there won't always be scenes with Sam and Quinn in every chapter, but there's a good bit of them in this chapter and there should be a good bit of them in chapter nineteen too.

_anon:_ Thank you! I'm so glad you like this story! There's definitely some talk about that coming up, and don't worry, angst seems to be my specialty, it's fluff I have a hard time with! 


	19. Chapter Eighteen

Sam had been a little surprised when instead of his usual morning visit from Finn, Puck and Artie had been the ones to wander into the room while Sam was working out. Apparently, after the reveal in the choir room Artie had decided to request Sam's help with tutoring Puck in Spanish. After making a mental note to make up for the missed workout time, Sam had agreed and the three boys and spent the next few minutes going over the rest of Puck's Spanish homework. Once they made it through the assignment, Puck seemed to understand it well enough for Sam to declare the mini-tutoring session a success.

"Thanks." Puck said, looking mildly embarrassed.

"It's fine." Sam replied, brushing it off.

"You know, Finn'll probably want you to help him too now. Kurt and Rachel both take French, so they can never help him." Puck commented.

"If he needs help, I'll see what I can do. I see him every morning anyway." Sam said, suddenly looking a little worried.

"What's wrong?" Artie asked.

"Finn's almost always here by now. He always comes before school starts to talk about ... well, something different every time." Sam answered.

The three boys looked at each other for a moment before Puck spoke, "Let's go."

It didn't take long before they heard yelling and headed straight for the noise. Sam wasn't sure what they had expected to find, but what they saw certainly came as a shock. Finn was was backed against a wall surrounded by Karofsky and two of friends who Sam only vaguely knew and the three boys were beating Finn so severely that he was struggling to stay upright, he fell to the floor just as Puck ran to him, calling over his shoulder for Artie to get a teacher.

Sam froze, his mind was miles away and seven months back in time. He wasn't watching his best friend being beaten by three bullies, he was watching his ten year old foster brother being beaten by their foster father.

_"Please, leave him alone. Please, please stop it." Sam said, trying to step back in front of the younger boy despite the fact that he was already covered in his own share of blood and bruises._

_The drunken man shoved him out of the way and continued his attack on the smaller, sobbing child._

_"Please, just stop. Don't hurt him. You can hit me, don't hit Ryan." the barely-fifteen year old boy pleaded, grabbing the arm of the man in an attempt to save the child._

_He was thrown violently into a wall and his last thought before everything went black was that he had never felt so helpless._

"Sam! Sam, snap out of it and help!" Puck was yelling.

Sam snapped back to reality and ran to his friends to join Puck in trying to pull the other boys away from Finn, he refused to be helpless this time. He dogged a punch from a boy who's last name he thought was Walker and pushed the other boy away as hard as he could. He and Puck then quickly maneuvered their way in front of Finn, blocking him off from the other three and did their best to simply shove the others away rather then getting into an all-out fight that would result in Finn being left unprotected.

Three on two when the two were also trying to protect someone definitely weren't fair odds and Sam knew they wouldn't have lasted long if Artie hadn't shown back up when he did. Neither boy had ever been so happy to see Coach Beiste in their lives then when she came running screaming down the hall with Artie rolling behind her and Mike and Tina running behind him, apparently having been picked up somewhere along the way.

"Get away from them!" the football coach had screamed before yanking two of the boys back by their shirts and launching into a rant which none of them understood, but had the three boys cowering none the less.

While Puck and Mike helped the coach keep Finn's attackers from escaping, Artie, Sam and Tina headed straight for Finn, who, though bleeding and breathing strangely, was awake. Tina had already called 911 and was quickly trying rely information. Sam shocked the other two by instantly beginning to look the other boy over and ask questions.

"Can you breathe ok? Where are you hurt? Did you hit your head?" Sam asked with a mild note of panic in his voice.

"Breathing ... hurts. Um... what else did you say?" Finn responded, his voice obviously pained.

Sam looked even more panicked at that statement and quickly lifted Finn's shirt and took note of the rapidly forming bruises on his friends chest before turning to Tina, "Tell them I think he may have broken ribs and there might could be internal bleeding, they need to hurry."

Tina relayed the information to the 911 operator she was talking to as Sam repeated his other two questions for Finn.

"Um ... everywhere? But my chest and arm ... really hurt. Um, I think I hit my head on the locker and maybe when I fell." the injured boy replied.

Tina was already telling the operator that there might be a head injury before Sam could say anything. The tears on Finn's face testified to just how badly he was hurt and Artie and Sam tried desperately to distract him while wondering what on earth was taking the ambulance so long. As he waited with his friends, Sam realized with a shock that his own lip was bleeding rather heavily. In the chaos, the injury hadn't even registered in his mind.

Finally, after what seemed like forever there were paramedics heading towards them with police officers following closely behind. The new people seemed to simply add to the chaos and Sam fell into a bit of a shocked daze as Karofsky and his friends loudly protested, various people were questioned by various other people and quite the crowd began to form around them. He jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder before he realized that one of the paramedics had come over to him.

"Can I take a look at your lip?" she asked gently.

Sam nodded and let himself be led off to the ambulance with Finn when she declared he would likely need stitches. He would have wanted to go with Finn anyway. He had to make sure that his friend was ok.

* * *

"Sam, what happened?" Jessica asked as she rushed over to the hospital bed Sam had been left sitting on.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't fighting, I swear. These guys were beating Finn up and we were just trying to stop them. Please don't be mad." he said almost frantically.

"Calm down. It's ok, I'm not mad. I was just worried about you. Are you ok? Is your friend ok?" his foster mother questioned.

"I'm fine. My lip just needed a couple stitches. They won't tell me about Finn though. Would it be ok if we tried to find out again before we leave? I just want to make sure he's ok, he's my friend." Sam said, calming down slightly.

"Of course." said Jessica, hugging him, "I'm so glad you're ok. I was worried."

Sam blinked in shock for a moment, "You were?" he asked softly.

"Of course I was. Sam, we care about you. They told me it wasn't bad, but you were in the hospital again. I couldn't help but remember when you first came to us." she told her foster son.

Sam nodded in vague understanding, still trying to get used to have parental figures who cared for him again.

* * *

"Doesn't he have a brother? I'm sure you could call him later to find out about Finn." Jessica commented as they walked down a hallway after unsuccessfully trying to find out about Finn's condition.

"I guess I'll have to. I'm sorry, I'm just worried. It looked bad." Sam replied softly.

"I'm sure he'll be ok." his foster mother told him.

"I hope so. Wait ... I think that's his step-father? Can I go ask him about Finn?" he questioned.

At his foster mother's nod he headed down the hallway towards the man.

"Mr. Hummel?" he said once he reached the man.

"Sam?" Burt asked as he turned around to look at him.

"Yes, sir. Is Finn ok?" Sam questioned.

"He's got a broken arm and a couple broken ribs, but other then that and good bit of bruising, he'll be fine. He'd actually asked me to find you. He wanted me to tell you thank you." he told Sam.

"I'm so glad he'll be alright. He's my best friend, I was worried." Sam replied with a sigh of relief, "He doesn't need to thank me, I couldn't have just ignored it. I had to help him."

"Obviously not everyone in that school would have, so thank you from me and his mom too. I'll go tell him I found you, then I need to go pick Kurt up. You're a good kid, Sam," Burt said.

"Thank you, sir." Sam said before heading back to his foster mother.

At her questioning look, Sam smiled, "Finn's going to be ok."

"I'm glad. Let's go home then." Jessica said as they began finding their way out of the hospital.

"Actually, if it's ok - I can explain if it's not - Quinn was supposed to come home with us after school and have dinner. If she can still come, could you check me back in?" Sam asked, looking down and staring at the floor in his nervousness.

"Of course! I'm sorry, sweetie. I just forgot what day it was in all the excitement. We've been looking forward to spending some time with Quinn." Jessica answered.

Sam let out a small sigh of relief, "Thank you." he said quietly.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Well, I've been going back and editing this chapter for days now trying to get it to come out right. I hope it ended up ok! As the end here indicates, there will be a good bit of Quinn and Sam interaction in the next chapter, though I can't promise that much of it will be very fluffy.

_hey_: Thank you! I hope you remember that this story takes place before any of that happened. So Finn and Sam are still close friends - best friends, in Sam's opinion at least. Finn's a good guy in this story.

_tj_: Thank you!

_Tessie_: Well, does this answer your question? LOL! This will be a pretty big arc for the story, that's why I spent so much time building that up as well. I hope you like it!


	20. Chapter Nineteen

Sam doubted that many students in the school managed to get anything done that day. Finn's attack seemed to be the only topic of conversation and many of the popular kids were very unhappy at the way things had turned out. He was slushied twice and shoved into a few lockers before Glee for his part in having the three boys arrested. Apparently beating a "loser" shouldn't have warranted any punishment. He was getting very sick of the general attitude at McKinnley.

He was swarmed by every New Directions member who was already there as soon as he walked into the choir room.

"How's Finn?"

"Is he going to be ok?"

"What did Kurt's dad say?"

"What did you find out?"

"Guys!" Sam nearly yelled over the chaos, "I told you everything I know in the text message I sent out. He's got broken ribs, a broken arm and bruises, but Mr. Hummel says he'll be ok. That's all I know." Sam told his friends.

"I can't believe things have gotten this bad." Mike said softy.

"They'll have to do something now though, right? They can't just let things keep going like this." Tina commented tearfully.

"I wouldn't bet on it. I don't trust any of the idiots in charge of this school as far as I can throw them." Puck said bitterly.

The rest of the class was spent worrying about Finn and wondering if things would finally change.

* * *

They had barely shut the door when the sound of running was heard, followed quickly by a yell of "Sammy!" before Aiden collided with Sam's legs and the other children came in the room behind him. Quinn looked momentarily shocked when Aiden let go of Sam and then hugged her as well.

"Hi Quinn! You sang very pretty Saturday. I liked it." the youngest child announced.

"I liked it too!" Seth chimed in.

"Well, thank you." Quinn replied, still looking a little surprised.

Ellie allowed the younger children babble at Quinn while she went off to her room. She had already talked the other girl's ear off in the car and so she had decided to let the other's have their turn. The boys were quite willing to take up where Ellie had left off, though Anna was standing quitely off to the side. After a moment Sam smiled apologetically at Quinn before heading over to the little girl.

"Hey, you don't have to be nervous about talking to Quinn. She's very nice, I promise." Sam gently told the little girl.

"I know. I just ... I don't know what to say. And..." Anna trailed off.

"It's alright. She's been wanting to get to know you guys too and I really think you'll like her. I know she'll love you." he told his youngest foster sister.

"Really?" she asked.

"Really." Sam confirmed.

Just as Sam went to head back to Quinn he heard little Aiden speak up again, "Sam thinks you're the best singer in the whole world and I do too."

Sam decided it might be best to direct Quinn away from his foster siblings for the moment before he died of embarrassment.

* * *

"This is where I usually come to practice for Glee - when it's not raining or snowing or something - so I don't bug anybody." Sam said, gesturing to the little clearing surrounded by trees.

"It's nice out here. Doesn't seem like it's so close to the house. It feels ... isolated, I guess. Peaceful. I like it." Quinn replied, sitting down in the grass.

"I like coming out here, just being alone for a little while. Even though the kids follow me a lot." he said with a quiet laugh.

"Are you ok, Sam?" Quinn asked carefully.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It was just a split lip. Finn's the one who was really hurt." Sam replied, sounding slightly confused.

"No. I mean... I heard Puck talking to Lauren about what happened. He said you sort of froze for a moment when you saw what was happening. I think he was actually a little worried and I kind of am too now." she said softly.

Sam took a deep breath and seemed to find the grass near him very interesting for a while before he replied, "It - it reminded me of something. Flashback, I guess.".

"Can you tell me about it?" she asked, placing a hand on his arm.

He stiffened for a moment before relaxing with a sigh and looking back up at her, "I think you've probably already guessed that my last home um, wasn't that great." he started.

She nodded and he went back to studying the grass for several seconds before continuing.

"I was there for three years. For the first two years there was a boy a couple years older then me, Adam. We shared a room. There were a couple girls too. After Adam left another boy came. Ryan was only nine when he first showed up, I was almost fourteen. He took Adam's old place in my room." Sam explained, taking another deep breath and looking around before he spoke again, "Mr. Mason - our foster father - he drank. A lot. When he got drunk, Mrs. Mason would take the girls and leave. They'd just go off somewhere, we didn't even know where half the time. Then we would try not to make him mad." he explained softly.

"Oh, Sam." Quinn whispered, already guessing what was coming.

"Adam didn't care about me. Or anybody really. If I mad Mr. Mason mad ... I paid for it. Sometimes if Adam made him mad, I paid for it. Mrs. Mason didn't care either. I never understood ... I don't understand why she took care of the girls but she didn't care at all about us. It's ... she just didn't care." he said brokenly, trying his best not to cry in front of his girlfriend.

"Sam, I'm sorry. I'm so, so, so sorry." Quinn told him with tears in her own eyes.

He managed a shaky smile at her before continuing, "I didn't want to be like Adam. When Ryan came, he was so much younger then me. He didn't deserve it. So if he got in trouble, I'd stand in front of him. Mr. Mason usually didn't care who he hit, so if I let him ... if I let him hit me, Ryan would be safe. Usually he was at least sober enough to remember not to hit me in the face." he said, ending with a dry laugh.

"What happened?" his girlfriend questioned softly.

"Social workers are supposed to check up on foster kids sometimes. But there's so many of us and there's not enough of them. Sometimes, if nothing calls attention to a kid or a home, they can kind of get forgotten. And no one comes. I guess that's what happened, cause after Ryan came, nobody ever seemed to show up anymore. Nobody realized... Then one night, he just got really, really drunk and he made Ryan go get him another drink. Ryan tripped. He spilled it everywhere and Mr. Mason went after him, but I stood in front him Ryan, like I always did and so he went after me. Usually he'd finish and he'd just leave. Ryan would help me get cleaned up and stuff. But that night... When he finished with me, he went back after Ryan. I tried to step in front of Ryan or pull him away from him, but he just kept pushing me away and then he just - he threw me into the wall. I blacked out. When I woke up Mr. Mason was just gone and Ryan was on the floor near me and he was hurt. Really hurt. I called 911..." Sam said, losing his battle with his emotions as tears slid silently down his face.

Quinn silently pulled him into a hug as she tried unsuccessfully to fight back tears of her own. They sat that way for several minutes before Sam took a deep breath and began to finish his story.

"I was in the hospital for a few days, Ryan was there for a week. The police questioned us and when Mr. Mason showed back up, he was arrested. Then they assigned us a new social worker and they split us up. I came here and Ryan went to another home. We were able to exchange phone numbers and sometimes we call, just to check up on each other. He says he's in a good home too now. I haven't seen him since the hospital though." Sam said, finally ending his story.

"That's what you remembered? That last night?" Quinn asked, wiping her eyes.

"Yeah." Sam replied, nodding.

"I'm so sorry, Sam. I wish you hadn't ever had to go through that. I wish I could make things better for you." she said softly.

"You do." Sam replied just as quietly, smiling gently at his girlfriend even though there were still tears in his eyes, "You make things better just by ... just by being you." he continued, wrapping his arm around Quinn as she leaned into his side.

They sat in comfortable silence, each taking comfort in the other's presence in the quiet little clearing.

Quinn finally broke the silence by looking up at her boyfriend with a smile, "I love you, Sam." she said softy.

After a small moment of shock, Sam smiled back, "I love you too." he told her, "When I gave you that promise ring I meant it. I keep my promises. I want to be with you for as long as you want to be with me. Even if I did have to leave, as long as you still wanted to be with me, I would do everything I could to make sure we could stay together."

"Maybe I need to find you a promise ring, so you'll understand that I want to be with you for as long as you'll be with me." she replied with a smile before kissing him.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I hope this is ok. I would have been up last night, but my computer decided there was a very important Life Experience I had not yet experienced, my computer crashing. Yeah. It took about eight and a half hours to back up my files, do a recovery and then reload everything and by then it was seven in the morning. I ended up sleeping until one in the afternoon and then spent the rest of the day trying to fix what I could and then doing other things I had to do. But, now I have it up.


	21. Chapter Twenty

It certainly wasn't the typical "meet the parents" dinner. There was no risk of embarrassing childhood stories, or baby pictures showing up. His foster family had only known him a couple of months longer then Quinn had. The only risk of embarrassment came from the fact that his foster siblings where very, very fond of his girlfriend and they all wanted to talk to her - at the same time. He wasn't sure he was able to say more then a couple of sentences to Quinn over the entire "dinner date".

It didn't help that once the novelty of Quinn wore off, the kids suddenly wanted the details of how exactly he had gotten a split lip. That left him to tell the story of that morning again, editing the details a bit so as not to scare his foster siblings. He sent Quinn an apologetic look as the rest of his time with her slowly turned in an uncomfortable interrogation from his foster siblings, who wanted to know _why_ people had hurt Finn, _why_ they had been picking on him in the first place and then _why_ no one had done anything. Once he finally finished his awkward explanations, he noticed the looks on his foster parents faces and realized that there would likely be yet another talk tonight. He quickly decided that the last bit of time spent outside with Quinn was the only redeeming factor of the day.

He was still marveling over the fact that she had gotten a glimpse of how messed up he was and she still hadn't run away screaming. While she certainly didn't know everything about him yet, she knew more then anyone except for his social worker and his foster parents and she still said she loved him. For a moment, he almost let him self wonder if she would stay with him even if she knew everything about him. He quickly squashed that thought. If he let himself get his hopes up, it would only hurt more when she left him. Sam knew that Quinn deserved much better then him and as soon as she figured that out, it would be over.

Sam didn't get the chance to talk with Quinn again until it was time for her to go and he went with Phil to take her home. The short car ride with his foster father with them didn't provide much of a chance for conversation either. Sam found himself feeling quite glad that Valentine's Day would be that Monday. He would still have to work to make up for the uprooting of his schedule, but at least he wouldn't have to wait a full week for another date. He was just glad that Mike and Tina had clued him in to the fact that there was another restaurant in Lima.

* * *

Sam had just read Aiden his bedtime story and said goodnight to the others when his foster mother intercepted him on the way back to his room.

"We want to talk to you, Sam." she said motioning for him to follow her back into the living room.

As Sam nervously sat down in a chair, his foster father spoke up, "The kids brought up some very interesting questions tonight."

"We aren't mad at you." Jessica quickly added, "We just want to know what really led to this with Finn."

Sam sighed and studied the floor for a moment before he responded, "The Glee Club really isn't too popular. And well, most of the jocks, they don't care that Finn's used to be friends with them. They just care that he's in the Glee Club," he explained.

"So they pick on all of you?" Phil asked.

"It's not anywhere near as bad for the rest of us, really. It's just ... Finn's step-brother always got it the worst and when they chased him out of the school, they started focusing on Finn. He didn't do anything to them, really. They're just jerks." Sam told his foster parents.

"They 'chased his brother out of the school'? Why wasn't something done then?" Jessica questioned.

"I don't know. It was bad for Kurt, everyone could see that. When he finally really told someone about it, Coach Sylvester was the temporary principal, and she likes Kurt. He's like, one of the two people she likes. It's kinda scary. She expelled Karofsky - he's kinda like the ring leader - but the school board overturned it. So Kurt's parents sent him to Dalton." Sam said.

"The three involved today, they were arrested though, right?" Jessica asked.

"Yeah. So they shouldn't be a problem anymore. Things should get better." Sam told his foster mother, despite the fact that he suspected otherwise. If he didn't know for sure yet, it wasn't really a lie.

Phil smiled at his foster son, "That's good. We just wanted to make sure you were ok." he said.

"I am." Sam replied before quickly exchanging "goodnights" with them and heading back to his room.

* * *

Sam knew he would end up spending much of the next day trying to keep Aiden sidetracked. The little boy had slept in some, allowing Sam to get in some workout time first, but Aiden had still been the second one awake. Knowing that their foster parents would be up in a few minutes anyway, Sam had herded Aiden into the kitchen while promising to let Aiden "help" make pancakes. That was all it had taken to get a squeal that Sam had been sure would wake all the others up. Pancakes were Aiden's favorite.

"Can we put chocolate chips in them, Sammy?" Aiden asked from the stool he was sitting on.

Sam nearly winced and glanced over to the flour covered child. He caved instantly at the look on the little boys face. Aiden had him wrapped around his little finger and he knew it.

"Some of them." Sam said, causing another cheer from the little boy.

Jessica walked in shortly after that exchange and raised an amused eyebrow at the mess Aiden had made of himself.

"I know. It's why I didn't let him get dressed yet, I'll give him a bath after breakfast, I promise." Sam told his foster mother.

Jessica just laughed and waved a hand, "It's fine. He is going to need a bath though." she said before heading to make herself a cup of coffee.

* * *

After breakfast and Aiden's bath Sam found himself in the middle of an elaborate art project that he was worried would necessitate a second bath, so he had let the child use an old shirt of his that he only ever used to work out in as a smock. Luckily, the little boy was fascinated enough by the project that he didn't even notice when Seth left with Phil for a visit with his mother. Sam was rather glad about that, considering it was the reason he was trying to distract Aiden in the first place. Looking back at the child, Sam sincerely hoped that the old tee shirt would cover Aiden up enough that he wouldn't need another bath. He also hoped that the glitter would come out.

Aiden had quickly taken the project over and allowed Sam to simply watch, much to Sam's relief. About twenty minutes later, Sam was presented with a brightly colored, multi-textured glittery ... thing that he was told was for him. He quickly assured Aiden that would treasure it forever and he knew that he likely would, especially if they did end up separated someday. Once he managed to get the various art supplies back into the art box, he took the old shirt off of Aiden and sat the little boy on the counter by the kitchen sink to clean him off.

* * *

Three hours later, Sam had long since resigned himself to a morning of board games. They had been joined by the girls shortly after Aiden pulled out the second game and none of the children showed any sign of wanting to stop. When they decided to start the third game of Candyland, Sam informed them that he thought Jessica might want his help with lunch.

"Thank you for being so good with Aiden today." his foster mother told him as he walked into the kitchen.

"Oh, it's fine. He's still going to be upset when Seth gets back, but at least he isn't thinking about it now." said said with a shrug as he began to help her finish up and make the children's plates.

* * *

Somehow, Sam had ended up outside in the little clearing with Aiden, Anna, Ellie and his guitar. He was highly amused that the girls had watched the videos of New Directions Sectionals and Regionals performances enough that if he played the songs on his guitar, they could sing along nearly perfectly. That was what currently had all three children occupied, Sam playing the guitar while they attempted to reenact the routines that Sam had performed with his team.

* * *

Once they had ended up back inside playing video games, Sam knew it wouldn't be long before Phil got back with Seth. Seemingly on cue, he heard the door open and Seth came running in.

"Guess what? Mama got the new house! My room is blue and there's a backyard and she showed me pictures!" the little boy babbled excitedly at Jessica.

Sam quickly and quietly picked up Aiden, who was already had tears forming in his eyes and took him into his room. By the time he went to sit the child down, he was already sobbing and refused to let go of Sam. Sam sat on Aiden's bed with the little boy on his lap and began to try to calm him down.

"It's ok, Aiden." he said gently.

"It's not! Seth's mama loves him, he's gonna go home. Why doesn't my mama love me? Why doesn't she ever want to see me? Why doesn't she want me back?" the six year old said between sobs.

Sam hugged the little boy a little tighter. He knew that Phil and Jessica weren't supposed to say anything bad about Aiden's mother, but nothing said that he couldn't and sometimes he was very tempted.

"I don't know why, Aiden. You're a great kid and you know what? I think if someone can't see that, they must not be to smart. She doesn't know what she's missing out on." he said as Aiden kept crying.

Sam didn't know what was worse, when Seth would come back talking all about the great visit he'd had with his mother, or when Aiden would come back and his mother hadn't even bothered to show up. They all knew that Seth's mother was well on his way to getting him back while Aiden's mother was well on her way to losing custody permanently. Sam spent the next half hour calming Aiden down enough to so that he could go back to the others and deal with Seth's oblivious babbling for the rest of the day.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I am SO sorry that this chapter took so long! It was just one of those "life got in the way" things. A lot of stuff was happening at once and I just didn't have much time for writing. I'm as happy with this chapter as I have been with others, but I wanted to get it out and the next one should be better!

_hey_: Thank you very much! I'm so glad that you liked that chapter!

_A_: It was really more just that he didn't see a way out of telling her then him not wanting to be perfect anymore. He still didn't really want her to know, but it went a whole lot better then he thought it would have. And he might, but mostly he's just very excitable! Thank you!

_Tessie_: Thanks!

_Emily_: I'm so glad you like this!

_july_: Thank you!


	22. Chapter Twenty One

Sam was in the middle of a workout session - an attempt to make up for the recent changes to his normal schedule, and for the one coming up - when his cell phone beeped.

'Emergency meeting. We need all of you at our house by two. It's important. - Kurt'

Kurt had sent out a mass text message to every member of New Directions. Sam would have wondered for a bit at Kurt calling an emergency meeting of a Glee Club he wasn't a part of anymore, but he knew that Kurt would always be part of their group, no matter what school he was in. He also knew that it was likely about Finn.

'Is Finn ok?' Sam quickly texted Kurt.

'Finn's fine, but this is important. Will you come?' was the nearly instant reply.

Sam sighed and went to look for his foster parents, he found Jessica first.

"Um ... Kurt's called an 'emergency meeting' at his and Finn's house. He wants everyone in Glee there by two. Is that ok? I can walk. It's not that far." he asked nervously.

"That's fine, Sam. Don't worry, I'll drive you, that's not a problem." his foster mother said with a smile.

"Thank you!" he replied with sigh of relief. He hated asking for anything. He was terrified that one day they would decide he was to much trouble.

He headed back to his room to let Kurt know he was coming before going back to his workout. There was no getting out of lunch on the weekends and he would never be good enough if he didn't make sure he burned off all the food his foster parents made sure he ate. With Aiden and Jessica waking up before he had cooked, he had eaten a whole lot more for breakfast then he usually did yesterday too. He had to make up for that.

* * *

Sam was one of the firsts to show up at the Hudson-Hummel - or 'Hudmel', as some of the others insisted on calling them - house. Mercedes, Rachel and Artie were waiting with Kurt and Finn in the same room that the guys had met in to practice just a few weeks ago. He felt guilty when he caught sight of his best friend, badly bruised and in a cast. He wondered how much of that he could have prevented if he hadn't frozen up.

"Hey, guys! How're you doing, Finn?" he said as he walked into the room.

"I'll be fine. Dancing might be a bit more dangerous then usual for a while though." Finn said with a half smile as he gestured to his arm.

"So, what's this about?" Sam asked.

"I'll explain it once the others get here. They're all supposed to be coming." Kurt said, looking up from a conversation with Rachel and Mercedes.

"Kurt refuses to explain himself and he won't let Finn explain either. He says he doesn't want to deal with repeating it more then once. That kinda has me worried." Artie half-whispered to Sam.

"It's not really that bad." Finn said looking slightly upset. Kurt silenced him with a mild glare.

"Let's leave that for everyone else to decide." the younger brother said with an air of finality.

Kurt seemed determined to be as mysterious as possible until everyone was there to hear whatever it was he had to tell them. He refused to answer any questions, insisting that he didn't want to repeat himself ten times and he didn't want to deal with people walking in halfway through an explanation. Finally, everyone had made it to the house and Kurt made his way to the middle of the group before calling for everyone's attention and beginning to explain.

"Karofsky, Walker and Benson's parents bailed them out already." he began.

"Well, we figured that'd happen." Puck commented.

"I'd be more shocked if they hadn't been bailed out." Santana added.

Kurt turned to glare them both before continuing. "Dad's insisted that Figgins let him know as soon as he had made a decision on their punishment. Figgins called this morning." Kurt explained.

"And?" Lauren asked when Kurt paused.

"And he says he suspended them. For a week. They'll be back in the school in a week." Kurt declared with a tone of disgust.

"A week! Seriously?" Sam said. He couldn't believe how easy it was for these people to get away with it.

"That's it?" Rachel asked, looking outraged.

"Just a week." Tina muttered under her breath. If Sam hadn't been standing so close, he wouldn't have heard her.

The protests continued for several minutes before Kurt spoke up again. "There's still the chance that they'll actually go to jail - or at least Juvenile Hall once the trial happens, but we all know those three aren't the only problems. Azimo and the others will just pick up right where they left off and Figgins just made it clear that he doesn't really care." Kurt said while shaking his head.

"Sometimes, I really hate this school." Mercedes commented.

After a few murmured agreements Kurt decided to finish his story. "Our parents can't afford for both of us to go to Dalton." he said with a bit of a blush, "And I won't stay tucked away in my little safe haven if my brother isn't safe."

"I told him it's not his job to protect me." Finn cut in.

"And I told him too bad. It isn't fair for me to be in Dalton when Finn's in danger at McKinnley too. Finn comes back to school on Wednesday. And so do I." Kurt declared.

There were a few seconds of shocked silence before Finn spoke, "I tried to tell him it's stupid, Karofsky threatened to kill him!"

"And he could have killed you if Sam, Puck and Artie hadn't showed up! I won't stay at Dalton while you're at McKinnley. I'm coming back." his brother stated firmly.

That seemed to be the cue that the others needed as Kurt suddenly found himself in the center of a group hug.

"Yay! I missed you, Kurtie!" Brittany declared, throwing her arms around Kurt's neck and refusing to let go.

"I'm so glad to have you back! It isn't fair though. You should both be able to be safe." Mercedes said.

"We're gonna protect you this time. We'll go all secret service on you AND Finn. We'll keep you as safe as possible. You'll have bodyguards. It'll be cool! I'll wear sunglasses!" Puck rambled.

Sam's brain was going a mile a minute. There were only four other guys in Glee club and as great as Artie was, he was in a wheelchair and wouldn't be able to provide much physical protection. As nice as it sounded, keeping Kurt and Finn safe that way just wasn't possible. They needed a better solution. Sam didn't even notice Quinn watching him curiously as he stood lost in thought while the others were all talking over each other.

"We've got to do something else. That's not going to be enough!" Sam said once he had a basic outline of what they could do.

"Well, what else can we do? Nobody who can do anything cares." Santana commented.

"We'll make them care. I have a plan." Sam announced.

Every eye in the room had turned to Sam.

"Well? What is it?" Santana prodded, with a raised eyebrow.

"Kurt's pretty much one of the only people on this planet that Coach Sylvester likes, right?" Sam asked Quinn.

"Yeah, it's a little scary." his girlfriend confirmed.

Sam nodded and turned to Lauren, "Did you really bug the choir room with hidden microphones once?" he questioned.

"Of course." she said, looking annoyed that he had doubted her.

"Could you get ahold of some hidden cameras and do the same thing on ... a slightly larger scale?" he asked.

"I can have it ready by Tuesday." she said with a smirk.

"And you and Lauren are both good with video editing." he commented as he turned to Artie.

"Yeah." the confused looking boy confirmed.

"Ok then, I think this could really work." Sam said.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I really hope you guys like this chapter! I have the next two chapters written already and I've made a start on chapter 24 as well, so updates won't be too far apart. I wasn't quite as happy with the chapter, but I do like the next two better!

_july_: Thank you!


	23. Chapter Twenty Two

"What could work?" Puck asked on behalf the twelve confused teenagers.

"I know most of us have done some ... editing when telling our parents what goes on at this school, but what do you think would happen if they knew exactly what goes on?" Sam said, posing the question to the whole group.

"They'd freak." Mercedes commented.

"And what do you think would happen if our parents _and_as many other people as possible found out and we had proof that Figgins and the school board couldn't deny?" he questioned.

"There would be a bunch of adults who'd be very angry with the right people." Mike said with a look of comprehension on his face.

"Exactly. There's an after-school assembly we're supposed to perform at in two weeks." Sam declared.

"Yeah, Friday after next." Finn added, still looking confused, but deciding to join the conversation.

"With Lauren, Artie and hopefully Coach Sylvester's help, we can add some ... background scenery to that performance. If you all agree to this." the blond told his friends.

"What exactly are you wanting to do, Sam?" Quinn asked her boyfriend.

"Well, we're all going to have to swallow our pride for a couple weeks if we do this." Sam cautioned.

"But it'll make things safer for Kurt, Finn and the others, right?" Puck asked.

"It should make things safer for all of us." Sam said.

"Then we should do it." Puck replied as most of the others nodded in agreement.

"If Lauren can set up some cameras in the halls and maybe out by the dumpsters and in the lunchroom, we can catch everything that happen's on tape. But the thing is, we'll need to report it all to Lauren and Artie so they can find it and save the video of it. So the next couple weeks all the bullying, everything that's said and done ... they'll have to know so we'll have video of it. I know none of us like that idea ... but it's the best thing I can think of." Sam said hesitantly.

"I'll do it." Tina said, surprising everyone by being the first to agree. Mike put an arm around her before nodding in agreement.

"So will I." Artie put in.

Before long everyone in the room had agreed to Sam's plan.

"At least if we do this, even if it doesn't work we can say we did everything could." Rachel added once the last person agreed.

"So, what are we going to do with the video?" Mercedes asked.

"We're going to want to play a video behind us at the assembly ... Background scenery, to add to our performance." Sam explained.

Lauren smirked, "I like it."

Santana was to busy explaining what was going on to Brittany to comment.

"How is Coach Sylvester going to be involved?" Kurt asked.

"It depends on how persuasive I am. I think I can at least get her to make sure Figgins can't stop us. If I can convince her enough that this is a really good opportunity to get revenge on the school board for overturning her decision, I'm hoping to get her to make sure that ... well, that a whole lot more people see this. Is that ok?" Sam said, ending with a question. He wanted to make sure everyone would be all right with the plan.

"It sounds good to me." Finn said.

"This has gone too far. I don't care who sees it. I just want to stop them." Tina declared, looking more determined then most of them had ever seen her.

When the rest of New Directions agreed, Rachel spoke up. "All right. It sounds like we have a plan."

* * *

They'd all been discussing various aspects of their plan for about half an hour when Brittany finally spoke up. "If we're doing this because of Kurt and Finn, they should get solos." she commented.

"I think that's a great idea!" Mercedes agreed, looking mildly surprised to be agreeing with something Brittany said.

"I agree, they should. Plus, having Finn front and center and calling attention to his injuries - since he'll still have the cast - can't hurt what we're trying to do." Sam pointed out.

"It's perfect!" Quinn commented.

"Thank you." Kurt said, seeming to speak for both himself and Finn, who seemed to be half asleep, likely due to the fact that he was still on pain medication.

"Any ideas?" Santana questioned, looking at the brothers, "I mean, I don't think we all have playlists of 'Songs For Every Occasion' like some people, but can you think of anything that seems like it'd work?"

Kurt raised an eyebrow at Santana's comment before replying, "I actually might have an idea, but let me discuss it with Finn first. When he's actually awake." he said, adding the last part when Finn began to snore.

"Lauren and I figure we can get about half of the camera's set up before school Monday if we can get some help. The rest we can get up after school or Tuesday morning. That way we'll be set up before Kurt and Finn ever set foot in the building." Puck informed the group.

"And we'll have almost two weeks of footage. That should be enough," Rachel added.

"I think some of the others in AV club might help if we asked? Can we bring them in on this?" Artie asked.

"Sure. But make sure you trust them, we don't want this getting out. It needs to stay a secret." Sam reminded them all, causing Artie, Santana and a few others to shoot slightly alarmed looks at Brittany.

"Don't worry, I'll set something up. Brittany won't be alone for the next couple of weeks. We won't let her accidentally ruin this." Quinn whispered to Sam.

"Does this mean that we stop the bodyguard plan?" Mike asked softly, trying not to wake Finn up.

"For me, yes. Finn's hurt, we can't let them make it worse. Focus on keeping someone with him." Kurt replied.

"But you could get hurt too!" Puck said.

"That's kind of the point. They won't try anything too serious so soon after Finn, but it will be much too tempting for them to avoid throwing me into the dumpsters and shoving me into lockers. I can take it for a week and half. If we want people to see what they really do at that school, we can't stop them from doing it." Kurt pointed out.

"All right." Sam said uneasily, "But could you at least keep your phone where you can get to it easily and have one of us on speed dial? I don't want to risk this going to far again."

"Fine. But it'll be ok. It's just for a week and a half and if this works, it'll all be over after that," Kurt agreed.

"Are you sure?" Mercedes asked Kurt.

"I'm sure. I'll be fine. I've dealt with them for years, I can handle them for a few more days." he replied with a shrug.

"Dude, I really am sorry. I was an idiot. I treated you like crap and I didn't have any right too. I treated half of you guys like crap. At the start of last year I would have been one of the guys you're trying to stop. " Puck said, refusing to make eye contact with any of them.

"I forgave you months ago, you know that," Kurt said.

"So did I. You grew up and stopped, they didn't. " Artie told his friend.

"Noah, I'm fairly certain we all forgave you months ago. You made your choice and you chose us. They go after you just as much as they do the rest of us now, and you still stick with us. It's ok." Rachel said comfortingly.

The rest of the group nodded as Mercedes added one more thing, "A lot of us had issues with each other before Glee ... some of us still do occasionally but at the end of the day we're family now. Every single one of us is family. You're forgiven just like everyone else."

That ended up causing another group hug with Santana muttering about how they were all getting much to sappy. Quinn laid her head on Sam's shoulder and he sat back and watched as they all fell into easy conversation. He listened to the others talk as he simply enjoyed the feeling of contentment that he would have given nearly anything for just a few months ago.

Mercedes had said that the group was a family and the others had seemed to agree. He'd searched for family for most of his life, he found it a little funny that he seemed to have found it in a seemingly random assortment of teenagers in a Glee Club. He still hoped for a more ... conventional family someday. He still had dreams of being adopted - however unlikely he thought those dreams were, but he certainly knew he was better off then he was before he decided to sign up Glee.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Ok, so I figured I celebrate the holiday by giving you guys another chapter! I hope you like it!


	24. Chapter Twenty Three

Sam had spent a large portion of the Sunday night continuing his attempt to make up for deviating from his schedule so much. With the plan he had come up with, he'd just added another work out session he would have to miss. Which was why, instead of heading in the direction he usually did before school started, Sam was searching for Coach Sylvester. It was his plan and he was at least going to be the one to make the initial attempt to get her on their side for this. He had never really had any personal interactions with her, she had never seemed to even acknowledge his existence, but from what he had heard, he wondered if that might be for the best.  
He counted himself very lucky when he walked into the gym and she didn't seem to be busy. Sam took a deep breath before walking up to her.

"Coach Sylvester, could I please talk to you for a moment?" he asked.

There was a long moment of silence as she looked him up and down and he had the uneasy feeling that she was trying to decide if he was even worth speaking to.

"Ok." she said before abruptly turning and heading for her office as he quickly followed her.

"What do you want, Blondie?" she asked as soon as she had shut the door.

"I'm sure you heard what happened to Kurt's brother." he began.

"Yes, I heard about Frankenteen. What about him?" she replied.

"Well, Kurt was very upset about what happened." he said carefully, feeling a tiny bit of hope when he saw worry flicker in her eyes for half a second.

"And?" she prompted.

"When he found out that Principal Figgins had only suspended the boys who attacked Finn for a week he decided that he couldn't stay where he was safe if his brother wasn't safe." he explained.

"Porcelain is coming back?" she questioned.

"Yes, but we're worried about him. He had good reason to leave. I know you understand that, since you tried to protect him. It's a shame that the school board overturned your decision. This might not have happened if they hadn't. Kurt's brother might have been safe if they'd just listened to you." he told the woman.

There was another flash of worry before her face settled on anger and Sam mentally crossed his fingers, hoping that it was a good sign and not a sign that he needed to run.

"We have a plan to show the school board that they should have listened to you, that Karofsky and the others shouldn't be allowed to get away with this. We want Kurt - and everyone - to be safe here." Sam said.

"And you want my help?" she asked sharply.

Sam tried to hide all nervousness before replying, "Yes ma'am."

"What do you need?" the cheerleading coach asked.

He breathed a mental sigh of relief before explaining, "We have a plan and we mostly just need you to distract Principal Figgins once we start. He might try to stop us. He wouldn't protect Kurt and his brother either."

"That's acceptable. I think I could quite enjoy that." she replied.

"Thank you so much! You know, I really like your segment on the news! It's certainly the most ... entertaining part!" Sam told the woman.

She examined him carefully for a moment before responding, "Flattery just may get you everywhere, Blondie. What else do you want?"

Sam could have danced with joy, "Well, I was hoping that maybe..."

* * *

Quinn kissed Sam on the cheek before she sat down next to him in the cafeteria.

"How did it go?" she asked quietly.

"She agreed." Sam whispered back.

Quinn smiled before reaching into her purse and pulling out a piece of paper, "Lauren slipped this to me in the hall earlier." she said before passing it to him.

Sam quickly looked at the list of locations in the school, "Those are done?" he asked.

"Yeah, I think so." his girlfriend replied.

"This might actually work." he said in mild shock.

"I think it will." Quinn replied with a smile.

"I hope so." he said, careful to keep the conversation cryptic. They didn't need anyone to overhear them and figure out what they were doing.

"Finn texted me last night." Sam said after a moment of silence.

"He did?" Quinn asked, sounding slightly confused.

"I'm not sure how, but I think the broken arm somehow improved his texting skills." he commented with a note of amusement in his voice.

"Maybe he got Kurt to text for him?" his girlfriend suggested.

"No, there were still to many abbreviations for it to have been Kurt, plus he was complaining about Kurt a bit." Sam clarified.

"What did he say?" she asked.

"That he hadn't figured out how to play video games in his cast yet and Kurt wouldn't stop playing Disney music." he explained.

"Disney music?" Quinn questioned.

"That's what he said, I think it may have something to do with their song." Sam suggested.

"Maybe." she replied with a shrug.

"I guess we'll find out soon." he commented.

"We're still on for tonight, right? They do have someone to watch the kids?" Quinn asked, changing the subject.

"Yeah, they have someone to watch them. They'll drop me off on the way to where they're going to eat and pick me up when they're done." he confirmed for her.

"That's good. I've never been to this restaurant before, have you?" she questioned.

"No, I haven't. But Mike says it's good." Sam told her.

"So does Tina. It'll be nice to be somewhere different. But I wouldn't really care where we were as long as I was with you." she flirted.

"Neither would I, but I want it to be nice for you." he replied, furiously hoping that he wasn't blushing.

"I'm sure tonight will be wonderful." she responded with a smile.

* * *

Sam was hit with his second slushy of the day while heading for Glee. As he wiped off his face and went to get a clean shirt from his locker, he had to fight back a smile when he realized that it had happened in a hallway that already had a hidden camera set up. Once he had his shirt, he ducked into the nearest bathroom to clean up and change. He was quite proud of himself when he still made it into the choir room before their teacher.

"I was slushied in the hall." he said to the others, both as an explanation for his wet hair and so Artie and Lauren could find the video of it.

"This hall?" Mike asked, gesturing towards the door.

"Yeah." Sam replied.

"I put a camera there this morning, we should have it then." Mike whispered.

"You ended up helping them?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, it was kind of fun. And plus, nobody would be as suspicious of me as they are of them, so they sent me anywhere they thought it was more likely for people to show up." Mike replied with a laugh.

Santana walked in and shut the door as soon as she realized everyone but Mr. Shoue was there already.

"She agreed?" she asked, looking at Sam.

"Yeah, she agreed to everything. After hearing all of your stories about her, plus what I've seen, I had a feeling she'd like the idea of a little revenge on the school board for not listening to her." Sam responded.

"Good. And some of the camera's are up?" Santana asked.

"Yeah, about half of them. We need to do the rest either after school or in the morning. Anyone else want to help?" Puck asked.

"I will. That way I'll be ahead of the game whenever Coach Sylvester decides the Cheerios need to learn surveillance." Santana said.

"Cool." Puck replied with a shrug.

"Anyone that needs to report any ... incidents today, just let me or Lauren know. We've got lists for where the cameras are already." Artie informed the group.

Before anyone could say anything, the door opened and Mr. Shoue walked into the room. He headed straight for the white board and wrote "Assembly" before underlining the word and turning to face the kids.

"Ok, first off, has anyone heard how Finn's doing?" he asked.

"Finn is resting at home. He will be returning Wednesday and Kurt will be with him." Rachel said.

"Kurt's coming back?" their teacher asked, sounding surprised.

"He says he won't stay somewhere safe if Finn isn't safe here either. Figgins only suspended those guys for a week." Mercedes informed him.

Mr. Shoue closed his eyes for a moment before he spoke again. "I'll try and keep an eye out for them and I'm sure Sue will watch out for Kurt. I don't know what else to do though." he admitted.

"We're gonna take care of them too. This has gone to far." Puck commented, causing their teacher to give him a suspicious look.

"What do you ... never mind. I don't think I want to know." the man said, "Ok, the assembly is in two weeks! We need to decide what we're going to perform."

"We talked about that this weekend. We all agreed that we want Finn and Kurt to sing one of the songs." Rachel told their teacher.

"Ok. What will they be singing?" he asked.

"They haven't decided yet. Finn fell asleep while we were talking and Kurt said he had an idea, but he wanted to ask Finn first." Sam responded.

"Ok. We need to try and come up with our second song then!" Mr. Shoue announced, looking expectantly at his students.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I hope you guys liked this! I tried to get Sue's voice right but I'm not sure how well I did. The next chapter will be Sam and Quinn's Valentine's Day date! I've noticed that a lot of people who had been reviewing aren't anymore, I know some people get busy but with it happening at once I'm worried that there's something people aren't liking about the way the story is going. If there is something about the story that you aren't pleased with, please let me know. I can't say that I'll be able to "fix" everything, but I would see what I could do and I would much rather know what people aren't liking then have to wonder.


	25. Chapter Twenty Four

Sam waited patiently outside the restaurant for Quinn's mother to drop her off. It had become an unspoken rule when they met at Breadstix that the first to arrive would wait inside for the other instead of standing out in the cold, but considering the fact that neither had been to the restaurant they were going to that night before, Sam had decided to wait outside for his girlfriend. As he stood holding the flowers he had bought for her, with the bracelet he had also bought in his coat pocket he realized that he would likely meet Quinn's mother for the first time that night.

It hadn't been intentional that he hadn't met the woman yet, it just seemed that by a series of accidents, they had never actually had the chance to meet. The thought of meeting his girlfriend's mother had him ten times more nervous then he had been before. He was terrified that she wouldn't approve of him. Quinn might not have left when she started to learn about his past, but he was afraid that fact would change if her mother didn't like him. She didn't speak about it much, but from what he had heard about the previous school year, he knew that Quinn was likely almost as afraid of losing her home again as he was.

His breath caught as he spotted Quinn and her mother walking towards him and he forced himself to calm down, visibly being a nervous wreck wouldn't help him at all. Pretending to be calm when he wasn't was a practiced skill of his and now was a perfect time to put it into use. He took a deep breath before walking forward to meet them.

"Hello, Quinn. Happy Valentine's Day." he said, handing his girlfriend the flowers and kissing her on the cheek before turning to her mother, "Hello, Mrs. Fabray. It's nice to meet you."

"Happy Valentine's Day to you too." Quinn said with a smile as she took his hand.

Mrs. Fabray seemed to analyze him in a way that reminded him vaguely of Coach Sylvester before responding, "Hello, Sam. Quinn has told me a lot about you."

"She's told me a lot about you as well." he replied carefully.

"Quinn says that you are on the football and in Glee Club with her as well. She also tells me that you do very well in school." she said, sounding slightly stiff.

"Yes ma'am, I'm in football and Glee and I try my best in my classes." he said respectfully.

"That's good. I approve of well rounded young men, but my Quinn needs someone who can keep up with her intellectually as well." Mrs. Fabray stated.

Sam pretended that he didn't notice the shot at Finn as Quinn shifted uncomfortably next to him.

"We should really be getting inside, it's cold." Quinn commented, looking at her mother as Sam put an arm around her shoulders.

"Yes. It was a pleasure to finally meet you." the woman replied with a small nod at Sam.

"It was a pleasure to meet you as well." Sam said with a smile before turning and leading Quinn into the restaurant.

"That went well." he whispered nervously.

"Actually, I think it did. She just ... it takes time to get used to her, and for her to get used to you." his girlfriend responded.

* * *

"It was your idea to come to a Chinese restaurant, you know." Quinn said as she tried not to laugh at the look her boyfriend was shooting the chopsticks that had come with his food.

"I know and I like Chinese food, I've just never actually used chopsticks." he said as Quinn preceded to demonstrate perfect use of the small sticks while shooting him an innocent look.

"It really isn't that hard once you get used to it." his girlfriend informed him.

"I know, but it's the getting used to it part that I'm worried about." he replied before deciding that this would at least be a good excuse for not eating very much.

"Just try it, Sam." Quinn said with a small laugh.

After Sam clumsily managed to get a piece of chicken in his mouth while his girlfriend made a valiant effort to keep a straight face, he made a show of pretending to be quite proud of himself, causing Quinn to burst into quiet giggles.

"Well, Mike was right. The food is good." he commented after his little show.

"Yes, it is." she agreed.

The small talk continued for the next several minutes as Sam continued his attempts to eat with the chopsticks and ended up dropping more rice on his shirt then in his mouth. Quinn observed his efforts with amusement plain on her face.

"Maybe if you learned to speak Chinese you'd be more inspired to figure this out." she remarked innocently.

"You're enjoying this aren't you?" Sam teased back.

"Me? Enjoy my boyfriend's adorable attempts to eat his dinner with chopsticks when he's never used them before in his life? Never!" she shot back with a smirk.

"I suppose I'll just be proud of the fact that this is another random skill you've mastered that I may never be able to figure out." Sam said with a dramatic sigh.

"Yes, because there's nothing you can do that I can't. It isn't like you play guitar and speak a ridiculous number of languages or anything." Quinn said with a laugh.

They fell into a comfortable silence for a while before she spoke again, "Have I mentioned yet how proud of you I am for coming up with that little plan of yours?"

"You mean my completely insane plan that I can't believe seems to be working?" he asked.

"It might seem insane to someone else, but honestly, with the things that go on in that school it makes perfect sense," she replied.

"When in Rome..." Sam commented with a laugh.

"Exactly. When you put it all into perspective, it really is a very good plan. I think it's going to work." she said with a bit of excitement seeping into her voice.

"I hope so. This is all going way to far. I hate seeing people get hurt." he replied softly.

Quinn laid a comforting hand on his arm, "You are such a good person, Sam. I can't figure out what I did to deserve you." she said sincerely.

Sam blinked in shock, "I'm a mess, Quinn. You ... you don't even realize just how much of a mess I am. It's me that doesn't deserve you."

"We'll have to agree to disagree for now then, but someday I'll make you see just how wonderful you are." she replied.

He smiled softly at her, still unable to believe the way she thought of him. After a moment he reached into his coat pocket to pull out the box he had placed there.

"I hope that you didn't think all I had for you was flowers." he said as he handed it to her.

"Oh, Sam you didn't have to buy me anything." she said, though he smiled at the excitement in her eyes as she took the box.

"Open it!" he prompted, his own excitement at wanting to see if she liked what he had picked out showing through.

"Oh, it's beautiful!" she gasped as she opened the box to see golden charm bracelet.

"I know it came with charms on it, but you can change them out and I can get you some others if you want." he told her.

"You're so sweet!" she exclaimed as she leaned over the table to kiss him.

He blushed and looked down at the table as she took the bracelet out of the box.

"Can you put it on me, please?" she asked, handing him the bracelet.

"Of course. You really like it?" he questioned as he fixed the clasp.

"It's wonderful, Sam! You know if you're this good at Valentine's Day at fifteen I can't wait to see what you come up with as you get older." she said with a sly smile.

Sam blushed again as he hoped against hope that she would stay with him to find out.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I hope you guys like this chapter! I would have gotten it out sooner, but life kind of went crazy over here. My father finally got called back to work! The problem is that it's a major pay cut and it's in another state, luckily it's a ten hour day, four days a week job, so he'll only be gone Monday-Thursday. But, it's a job and there's at least a glimmer of hope that we won't lose our house now.

Please let me know what you're liking about this story and what you aren't liking. I can't promise that I can make everyone happy and change everything suggested, because I do have an outline and I know exactly where this needs to go and how it will end, but I'll do my best to make improvements where they're needed! Also, if anyone can think of a good song similar to "I'll Stand By You", "Keep Holding On" or "Lean On Me", please let me know. I need a song like that for an upcoming chapter and Glee has already used all three of those.


	26. Chapter Twenty Five: Interlude

**Author's Note One:** I'm so sorry this took so long! Real life was kinda very busy at the same time as my laptop dying and then I managed to fix an old one but stuff still kept distracting me. So, in hopes that you will forgive me, I present the longest chapter yet. An interlude that's three times longer then the usual chapter. So you don't get confused, it's made up of lots of little segments that span a week and the point of view changes with each segment.

* * *

As the Hummel-Hudson family marched through the school and into the office on Wednesday morning, Kurt couldn't help but take note of the looks of shock shot their way, along with a few mildly concerned looks directed at Finn. He decided to enjoy the different kind of attention for the precious few moments that it would last. As soon as the shock of the fact that the school's favorite target was showing his face again wore off, things would get very interesting. For once, he was counting on that.

"May I help you?" the woman at the desk asked in a bored voice.

"I'm here to check my stepson in and turn in a doctors note explaining why he hasn't been in school for the past few days. I'm sure you already know why though." Burt said with a dark look.

The woman nodded, trying not to look intimidated as she took the paper that Burt shoved in her face.

"I need to re-enroll my son as well. He wants to be back with his brother now." the man declared, his tone of voice making it clear that he still wasn't sure how to feel about that fact.

Finn shot Kurt a look that seemed to be an attempt to convey the same thing and Kurt fought back a sigh. He knew that his parents were both proud of him and worried for him, and his brother was caught between being touched, offended and worried that Kurt was coming back for him. He supposed that he couldn't expect anyone to have clear feelings on the matter when he didn't even have them himself. As much as he knew that he couldn't stay safe when his brother wasn't, he was still afraid.

* * *

Puck couldn't help but grin as his friend walked into class and handed a late note to the teacher about five minutes before the class ended. The mild look of shock on Finn's face at actually seeing him in a math class was amusing. Math class was not something often on his agenda. He had decided several years back that being known as the guy who could just refuse to attend a class because he didn't feel like it could only help his reputation. So he chose his best class to skip and began to only show up on days when there would be a test. The favoritism generally shown to the jocks in small towns with rather corrupt schools insured that he wouldn't be failed. After a while, his teachers had given up and just begun grading him based on his test scores. One of his best kept secrets was that A in Math.

"Hey, dude." Puck called, stopping Finn before he walked out of the classroom.

"Yeah?" the tall boy responded.

"Do you have something to cover up that cast with?" he questioned his friend.

"Kurt kind of threw this at me before he went to his class, why?" Finn asked, pulling a plastic bag out of his jacket pocket and looking confused.

"Casts can't get wet, Finn! Come on, you know that. You broke your other arm in middle school football practice and your leg when we were seven and you jumped out of the tree house after you decided that your superman cape could really make you fly!" Puck replied with an eye roll.

"But why would - oh. Slushies." the other boy replied with a look of dawning comprehension.

"Yeah. Come on, cover up your arm and I'll go pass you off to Mike." Puck said as he slipped on a pair of sunglasses and tried not to laugh at the look of annoyance on Finn's face.

* * *

She knew they were supposed to leave Kurt alone, that he _wanted_ to be an open target so they would have enough evidence, but Mercedes couldn't make herself stay away from her best friend on his first day back. She let herself fall into step with Kurt as they headed for their next class and ignored his eye roll and half-hearted whispered protest. She smiled to herself when after a few moments he relaxed. She walked on the outside while Kurt pretended not to notice the protective gesture. Most of the jerks who would hurt him still wouldn't dare to physically hurt a girl. The way they walked insured that no one could touch him without also hurting her. What kind of a friend would she be if she didn't at least make sure that her best friend made it to lunch on his first day back without getting more then a slushy to the face?

As if triggered by her thought process, she noticed Kurt tense next to her and looked up in time to see purple liquid heading for her. She heard the clapping sound of a high five as one of the boys exclaimed "Nice! Two for one!" before there was laughter. The sound hadn't quite faded down the hall when she managed to wipe enough of the slushy out of her eyes to see. She sighed as she and Kurt made the familiar trip to get new shirts before cleaning up.

* * *

As Mike prepared for the next part of his shift as bodyguard he couldn't help but still be shocked that they were trusting him to protect Finn. He supposed that it might have something to do with the fact that he and Artie had been the first to stand up to Karofsky when they had started to realize how bad things were for Kurt or it could also simply be that it would have been to hard for Sam and Puck to do on their own. He decided that he didn't care much about the reason, he liked feeling important for once. He had spent much of his life in the background and he had been happy about it for the most part. Lately though, he had begun to come out of his shell a bit. A little attention focused on him didn't always have to be a bad thing.

He had shocked himself by gathering up the courage to yell at the guys who had slushied them after Puck had passed Finn of to him. Once he had himself cleaned off, Mike had felt a bit proud of himself as he'd helped his friend clean up after Finn proved mostly useless at doing so himself with one arm. It was a feeling that he usually only felt when he was able help his brother with his homework, or teach him to do something. He had to smile when he realized that. Mercedes was right, the glee club really had become a family.

* * *

Lauren casually glanced around the lunchroom looking for the club members who had the same lunch period as her and she fought down a wave of anger as noticed a couple of them still had wet hair. It wasn't something that she had ever intended to happen, but the glee kids had managed to become something like friends to her and she didn't quite appreciate seeing them hurt. They were her friends after all. It was just a possessive thing. She couldn't possibly care if it wasn't. She added names to the list she had been putting together that morning and put it back in her pocket.

The jerks that messed with the others didn't mess with her much. It was widely known that she was a wrestling champion and that she could likely take anyone in the school in fight and quite a few of the idiots also knew that she had three older brothers who'd done a very good job of teaching her self defense. The majority of those who still didn't care also remembered that those three older brothers could be rather ... protective. There may or may not have been a certain incident that involved tears on her part when she was younger and the aftermath of the incident may or may not have left those responsible mildly scarred for life. The few that had still dared to slushy her anyway ... well, they were going to learn their lesson. They just didn't know it yet. She was going to show them that Lauren Zizes could fight back even without causing physical harm. The video would be a masterpiece and if for some reason it didn't work, she still had three older brothers to sic on them.

"Lauren!" Artie called as he wheeled himself over to her.

"What?" she asked.

"I've heard of a couple incidents already and some of the AV guys have reported in too. We'll be busy this afternoon." he told her in a low voice.

"Yeah, I know. I heard too. Puck's going to help, he might be useless with most of it, but he can at least help find the footage. I can train him in the rest later." she said in an equally low voice.

He looked puzzled at the addition of Puck to their team, but seemed to decide not to question it. "Ok."

"Now, go to your girlfriend over there." she said, gesturing to where Brittany stood looking slightly confused.

She couldn't help but smirk when she heard him mutter "But she has English this period..." as he rolled off.

* * *

Sam was not having a very good day. He tried to tell himself that a bad day was really good thing for his plan, but it didn't help much. He had already been slushied twice, Azimo had nearly knocked him to the ground when he "accidently" bumped into him in the hallway and comments were still being made as he walked by. A quite a large portion of the school seemed to thing that stopping the guys who were beating your best friend to a pulp and calling the cops on them was worse then actually being the one to beat someone to a pulp. He still had two classes left and he was fed up already. He took a deep breath and reminded himself that if he could just handle it for another week and a half it would all hopefully stop. He also kept in mind that it was still nothing compared to what had happened to Kurt and Finn.

The shock of Kurt being back seemed to have worn off quickly. Sam had already seen Kurt slushied once and he had a feeling it had likely happened more then that. He sighed as he gathered his things together and went to meet with Finn to go to their next class. He was pulled out of his mild brooding when he spotted Puck walking up with Finn and had to try not to laugh. Puck was wearing sunglasses as he marched importantly towards him, continuously turning his head to keep an eye on everyone else in the hallway and looking ready to jump in front of Finn at any moment. Well, Puck was certainly taking the bodyguard thing seriously. Maybe a little too seriously.

"Alright. You be careful. He's already been slushied with Mike and I took most of another for him earlier. Keep him safe." Puck declared in a dead pan voice.

"Puck, seriously. I'm not actually the president you know!" Finn protested.

"You're the president of the glee club." Puck said as if that would cause everything to make sense.

"Co-president!" Finn called as walked off.

Sam was trying very hard to not to laugh. "I see Puck's done a good job." he commented with a smirk.

"Yeah, yeah. You wouldn't think it was so funny if you had to deal with him. He actually dived in front of me when someone threw a slushy. _Dived in front of me._ Then he fell to the floor covered in red slushy. Two girls screamed. He's nuts. Kurt would have strangled him by now." Finn grumbled as they headed for his next class.

* * *

Santana was, for the most part, perfectly content to sit back and watch the chaos. She couldn't help but smirk at many of the incidents she saw as she walked through the halls, knowing that the people who messed with those who she would now at least admit to herself were her friends had been caught on camera. They would pay for this. And if she didn't feel that they paid enough ... well, she would just exact her own special form of revenge once the cameras were gone. A comment that Kurt had made last year popped back into her head and she couldn't help but agree now. She'd had enough. Nobody was allowed to mess with the Gleeks but her.

Now all she had to do was find Artie. He would be the easiest to convince to give her what she wanted, because if he wouldn't listen to her, he would listen to Brittany. She needed to get her hands on any and all footage of Puck's bodyguard act. There was a fortune to be made off that, she was sure. She was looking up the requirements for America's Funniest Home Videos as soon as she got home.

* * *

Finn was a morning person. Kurt was not. However considering he had usually been up for at least an hour before someone dragged Finn out of bed, he could handle Finn's morning babbling on the way to school. It was kind of nice and he would never admit it but he had enjoyed the few mornings he and Finn had driven to school together before he'd had to transfer to Dalton. If dealing with someone talking his ear off the whole way to school came with having a brother, he could live with it.

"You said Puck was going to meet us in the parking lot?" Kurt asked his brother.

"Yeah, but you never did explain why," Finn replied.

"That's because I'm not giving you time to protest." Kurt declared as he pulled into the school parking lot.

"I don't think I'm going to like this," the taller boy said.

"I know you won't, but you'll have to deal with it." Kurt responded, hoping to avoid most of the protesting that he was expecting.

"What are you doing?" his older brother asked with a clear tone of worry in his voice.

"I'm going to go up to the school by myself and you are going to wait with Puck for five minutes before you follow. I'll be waiting for you at the front door." Kurt instructed as he pulled into the parking lot.

"No, you're not." Finn replied firmly.

"Yes, I am. And you're not talking me out of it." Kurt said as he got out of the car.

"Have you lost your mind?" the other boy asked after he followed his brother out of the car.

"No. I know exactly what I'm doing." Kurt told him.

"Puck! Tell Kurt that he's nuts!" Finn called as he spotted his friend.

"That's a dangerous request. Could you at least tell me why first?" the boy with the mohawk responded.

"He wants to go in by himself and for us to wait five minutes before we follow him. He'll get thrown in the dumpster, you know it. You said Lauren heard them planning it!" Finn said, working himself into a mild panic.

"That's exactly why I have to go. The whole point of this is to catch them on tape doing the things they always do to us. We can't catch them on tape if you two stop them. I'm going in and you will wait five minutes before you follow." Kurt said firmly.

"Ok. But if they seriously hurt you, I reserve the right to kill them when this is over," Puck replied.

"Me too," Finn added.

"Fine." Kurt said with an eye roll as he tried not to blush. "Will you bring my things when you come? I can change clothes, but I can't wash my bag in school." he asked. Puck nodded and he turned around to head for the school dreading what he knew was coming.

* * *

"Kurt! Kurt!" Finn called as he ran towards the dumpsters, ignoring Puck who grabbed his arm when he nearly tripped, "Where is he, Puck? I don't see him at the door and there's no one else here either!"

"Hush for a second!" Puck said sharply as they got closer to the dumpster, "Kurt?" he called.

"In here." a muffled voice said as the dumpster lid moved slightly.

"Kurt!" Finn yelled, "We have to get him out!" he declared to Puck, fully aware that he was going into panic mode.

"I realized that." Puck said dryly as he quickly lifted the dumpster lid and reached in to help Kurt out.

"Are you ok? Cause Mom and Burt will kill me if your not ok and I don't want you to not be ok either cause I'm supposed to protect you and you're not letting me do a very good job of that and I don't really like this and-" he forced himself to stop his rambling when his little brother held up up a hand before brushing himself off.

"I'm fine, Finn. Really." he insisted, and Finn couldn't help but feel guilty at the unspoken 'I've been through this plenty of times before,'.

"I'm going to assume that getting stuck wasn't part of the plan?" Puck asked dryly as Finn fought back the protective urge to yell 'Of course it wasn't!'.

"Yes, very funny. But I think we got what we needed," Kurt said.

"Good, because even if we hadn't, I'm not letting you do that again." he said as he pulled Kurt over to him and began to check him for injuries as best as he could with one hand, ignoring his brother's embarrassed protests.

* * *

Tina was simply trying to go about life the same way she always did. That meant that when she was alone in the hallways she kept her head down and tried her best to be invisible. One day, she was hoping that would actually work. It wasn't always slushies for her, quite a lot of the bullying thrown her way was teasing and taunts from girls who knew just how much words could hurt. She didn't fit in anywhere outside of glee, she knew that and she wasn't going to change for them. That didn't mean that their words didn't hurt.

She had nearly made it to her next class when she passed a group of girls who she usually tried to avoid. Sure enough, one of then tripped her as she walked past and she fell to the floor. She quickly got up and tried her best to hide her embarrassment as she wished with everything in her that she could sink into the floor.

"Careful, loser." one of the girls said through laughter.

"You can't even walk right without your little friends around." another said.

"Guess that's why they aren't here now. Even they know you can't do anything right."

"You can't even sing can you? I've never heard you. There must be a reason."

"I bet they just feel sorry you."

"I wonder how long it'll take before Mike finds someone better?"

Tina tried desperately to fight back tears as she hurried past the laughing girls. Their voices echoed in her ears long after she got to her class.

* * *

Quinn shook her head and she watched her friends walk past her covered in slushy. She felt a familiar pang of guilt at how well her Cheerio's uniform protected her from that. That wasn't to say that it protected her from everything and words could hurt, but no one would risk staining the uniform. There was only one time in known history that someone had dared to slushy one of Coach Sylvester's Cheerios. The rumor had it that the boy still refused to talk about what the coach had done to him.

She briefly pondered the possibility of just getting all the Gleeks to join the Cheerio's if her boyfriends plan were to fail. The thought quickly faded when she thought of Artie and the look on Puck's face if he were to even be asked to join. She had to fight back laughter when she remembered the stories of those who had witnessed Finn's attempt to try out for the Cheerio's after he was temporarily kicked off the football team. That was one plan that definitely wouldn't work. She shook her head in silent amusement as she headed for her next class.

* * *

"I don't know what they said to her, but they obviously said something and then she was crying. We need to find out what's going on." Artie said to Mike as they waited for the others to arrive in Glee club.

"All she told you was that they tripped her?" Mike asked.

"Yeah, that was all she said, but you could see them laughing and talking before she walked off. It wasn't until after they did that I saw her crying." Artie confirmed to Tina's boyfriend.

"Tina!" Mike exclaimed and Artie turned to see the girl walk into the room. Mike jumped up to hug her before leading her over to where he had been sitting with Artie as Artie fought back a stubborn feeling of mild jealousy. Tina had been his first love, but that was over now. He was with Brittany and she was insanely happy with Mike. They were one of the three couples involved in the betting pool run by the others on who would get married first.

"Tina, Artie saw the video of those girls tripping you yesterday. He said that they said something to you before you walked off. What did they say?" Mike asked gently.

"Nothing." Tina replied quickly.

"You were crying!" Artie replied drawing the attention of the others and causing Tina to blush.

"What happened?" Finn asked, walking over with a few of the others behind him.

Tina blushed even further as Mike explained the issue.

"We're your friends, you can tell us Tina." Mercedes said.

"That's kinda what they talk about." the other replied softly.

"What do you mean?" Artie asked, looking confused.

"They say that I can't do anything right, that I probably can't even sing and you guys only hang out with me because you feel bad for me." Tina nearly whispered.

"They say what?" Mercedes asked in anger as Artie fumed silently, along with several others from the looks of it.

"They're crazy. You're an amazing singer and a wonderful friend. We all love you." Mike said as he pulled Tina into a hug.

"Glee club is family remember? You're stuck with us forever." Artie commented, pleased when he got a small smile from his friend.

"I think Tina should get the other song." Rachel said, shocking the rest of the group.

"Yeah! Then she can show them how great she can sing!" Finn declared enthusiastically.

Artie let himself fade into the background as the girls began offering song suggestions to Tina while Mike stayed next to her with his arm wrapped around her and Finn wandered off to the other end of the room when Kurt walked in and seemed to be asking him something. He watched the others for a while before Brittany showed up and he smiled and wheeled his way over to his girlfriend who instantly began telling him all about her day.

* * *

Rachel walked purposefully through halls headed for her next class. She had taken to wearing a watch and carrying a small notebook in her purse so she could note down the exact time and location of every ... interaction with the less civilized people attending McKinnley High. She also drew convenient diagrams of the situation when she felt it necessary. She was certain this careful video documentation would work. If it didn't, she would give the video to her parents and they would get lawyers involved. But right now, she would focus on this. It was much more dramatic.

She was quite proud of Noah's part in the plan. Even if he might be being a bit silly about the whole thing, he was taking good care of Finn and she was grateful for that. The other boys were doing well she supposed, but they hadn't taken slushies for Finn, they had just let themselves get slushied along side him. She didn't quite understand why Finn kept protesting that. He was insisting that he wasn't too injured to take a slushy and she supposed that was true, but she would have at least appreciated the gesture. It must be a boy thing.

* * *

Sam sighed as he once again changed shirts. If he got hit with one more slushy, he was just going to have to wear a stained and wet shirt for the rest of the day. The only shirt he had left was the one he had to wear home. He really wasn't looking forward to his foster parents finding out what was going on and he certainly didn't want them finding out any sooner. Somehow - he suspected Coach Slyvester was involved - everyone in the school had been sent home the night before with a flyer inviting parents to the assembly. He was still trying to come up with a good excuse in case they wanted to bring the kids. Ellie, Seth, Anna and Aiden were not going to see him like that if there was anything he could possibly do to stop it.

He headed back to quickly stuff the wet shirt back in his locker so he could get to class and winced sympathetically when he saw Puck and Finn get slushied. Finn had finally talked Puck out of dramatically diving in front of him every time he saw a slushy coming, but Puck had insisted on continuing to wear his glasses and generally behave as if he was a character in a spy movie. Sam had a sneaking suspicion that at least half that reason Puck was behaving so oddly was simply to amuse the others. Puck did generally seem determined to keep things as lighthearted as possible.

He nearly sprinted into his class where Kurt quickly waved him over to sit next to him.

"Have you seen Finn?" the other boy asked, clearly concerned for his brother.

"Yeah, he just got slushied with Puck." Sam replied softly.

Kurt sighed. "Please tell me that his cast was covered? I just know he's going to forget and then we're going to have to take him back to hospital to get another cast and have to attempt to explain to some poor doctor why his arm is covered in sticky liquid and Dad and Carole will flip out and it's not going to be pleasant."

"Yeah, his arm was covered. Puck, Mike and I always check before we head into the hall. We know he can forget things like that." Sam said, trying to calm his friend down.

"I know. This issue is that Puck tends to forget things like that too." the other boy replied with a sigh.

* * *

Brittany was in the middle of a test. She wasn't really sure what class she was in and she didn't remember being told about about a test, but there it was. The others in the room seemed to know about it so she decided it was a special surprise just for her. She glanced around the room. All the others ever did was write. Didn't they know how much more interesting pictures made things? The teachers must get so bored. She felt sorry for the poor teacher in the class. She didn't remember her name, but she was sure that the lady would like something different. That was why she decided to answer in only pictures.

Her friends were acting very strange. They talked a lot about cameras and video, but all Brittany remembered was that they were trying to make people be nicer. That was good because people used to be very mean to her Kurtie and he was back at school again now. They _needed_ to learn how to be nicer. She was worried about Puck though. He'd started wearing sunglasses inside a lot. She had been afraid that he had gone blind, but Santana had smiled and said "He didn't lose his eyesight, just his mind,". That must be why he looked around so much when he was with Finn. She hoped that he would find it, maybe she could offer to help him after glee.

Oh, Finn. That reminded her of something. She finished her drawing of a unicorn and began digging around in her purse looking for what she had bought for him. There it was! She was surprised that Finn's mom had been letting him walk around with so many boo-boos and no band-aids. Maybe Finn just lost them, that happened to her a lot. She had asked her mom to let her buy some extras for her friend last night, they were SpongeBob band-aids just like hers! She was going to help him put them on once they got to glee club.

* * *

He hadn't had quite as much trouble since Puck had begun to practically stalk him between classes, but Puck had now been assigned to protect Finn. While his best friend seemed to be having way to much fun with his new job, it had left Artie an open target for much of the day. He'd tried to keep himself calm by simply keeping a neat record of when and where the little ... incidents happened. He spotted someone head towards him and sighed. Getting a wheelchair with no handles was quickly moving to the top of his to-do list.

"Make way everyone, this geek needs some help getting to his next class. Let me help hurry him along." one of the hockey players said as they stepped behind him.

"Do you seriously have nothing better to do?" Artie asked in a resigned voice.

"What do you mean? I'm helping you." the other boy said in a tone of false innocence as he grabbed Artie's chair and intentionally gave a hard shove that sent him rolling into a wall.

As he slammed into the wall with enough force that his chair nearly topped over he heard an "Oops." that was almost drowned out by the laughter. He sighed and continued on his way to Glee, hopefully this wouldn't last much longer.

* * *

Tina had finally settled on a song with the help of Mercedes and she couldn't believe how much better she felt. Her friends had gone above and beyond to show her how wrong the others were. It was a very rare thing for her to walk the halls alone now and even when she did, it was much easier to force the words of the other girls out of her mind when she pictured the looks on their faces at the assembly. She was forcing herself to be optimistic along with the others. This would work and things would change. It wouldn't be much longer now.

She wasn't naive enough to believe that the hallways of McKinnley High would be filled with rainbows and unicorns after the assembly, but she was hopeful that things would get better. She hoped that at the very least, next year would bring a school with no slushy machine, teachers who actually kept an eye on the students and stopped bullying when they saw it and rules that would see a whole lot more punishment for physical violence. It would be nice if those on the lower end of the school totem pole could at least walk through halls without worrying. She was going to do everything in her power to see that happen.

* * *

Puck was fairly certain that without Kurt to keep reminding Finn just how angry their parents would be if he got injured again, Finn would have rebelled and put a stop their little bodyguard program several days ago. From the conversations he observed he was fairly certain that Kurt also reminded Finn of just how angry _he_ would be if Finn got injured again. Whatever Kurt had done, it had Finn grudgingly accepting being protected. Very grudgingly. He had toned himself down a bit after his friend had begun muttering death threats and though Finn still acted like his antics annoyed him, Puck could see him fighting a smile half the time. That had been one of the main reasons Puck had done it in the first place.

While it was fun to pretend that he was really in the secret service, what he enjoyed more was the amused glances he got from his stressed out and worried friends when they saw what he was up too. He might not be able to do much to help, but he could try and keep them all from getting too upset. It was only a few more days until the next phase of their plan could be put into action. He really hoped that it would work. If it didn't, he was going to have to come up with a Plan B and he really much preferred Plan A. He wanted his friends to be safe, but he also really needed for things to be better by the next school year. If he had to set his friends on full bodyguard duty for Sarah, he had a feeling she would take it even worse then Finn was.

* * *

Quinn sighed as she headed out into the hallway to go to her next class. Artie had been sitting next to her and muttering about how they probably already had enough footage for two videos and that he had quite a lot of toes to run over when this was done. She wasn't really sure she wanted to know just how much was in those videos. She saw enough of her friends being tormented in the hallway, she wasn't sure how well she would handle seeing all the things she missed.

She still felt horribly guilty for the way she used to treat other students in the school and it nearly killed her to see her friends being treated the way that she used to treat people. Sometimes the way that she used to treat _them_. At times she really couldn't believe that she had ever thought it was ok to act that way, to hurt people like that. It was one of the reasons why she knew she didn't deserve Sam. He was such a better person then she was. Sam couldn't hurt a fly.

As if he was summoned by her thoughts, she suddenly spotted her boyfriend just ahead of her but before she could make her way to him, the newly returned Karofsky did. She didn't even have time to react Sam had been slammed into a locker and Karofsky was walking calmly away. The flash of panic on Sam's face nearly broke her heart. An imagined image of what he must be remembering hit her and she had to hold back tears as she headed straight for her boyfriend.

"Are you ok?" she asked softly as soon as she reached him.

"I'm fine. It's nothing, he didn't hurt me." he said, blushing though she could tell he was still trying to calm his breathing.

"I'm glad, but that's not all I meant and you know it. Are you really ok?" she asked again as she placed a hand on his arm and tried to show her concern with her eyes.

"I'm ok. It's just a memory. It can't hurt me now." he whispered to her as they made their way down the hallway.

* * *

Sam couldn't believe how well his plan seemed to be working. They had been able to get the footage of the bullies (and sadly, according to Artie and Lauren they already had more then enough), parents would be attending the assembly and they had two perfect songs to perform. If this didn't work, nobody could say that they hadn't tried their best. Though Mr. Schue was still clueless as to what was going on, he had made several comments about how close they all seemed to be getting lately. At least something good would come out of his crazy plan even if it didn't work.

There had been a lot of interactions between people who never had seemed to talk much before. He had noticed a few whispered conversations between Mike, Lauren and Puck ever since Mike had helped them hide the cameras, Brittany had spent most of a recent glee practice carefully putting a band-aid over every remaining cut and bruise Finn had and Santana had steered Kurt away after a slushy attack declaring that she would help him clean up. He would admit to doing a double take at the sight of that last one. The closer they became, the better, in Sam's opinion. They would be a stronger club by the end of this one way or the other.

* * *

**Author's Note Two:** I hope you guys like that! I also hope I did ok with writing all the characters. Ever since I found out that there really will be no Sam in season three, by brain has been trying to convince me that Perfect should be a trilogy and cover the rest of the time Sam should have been on the show. If I do this, the next two stories will more group-focused and have multiple point of views (though they wouldn't change as often as they did in this interlude!). I did add a few references in some of the POVs that would come up in an AU season three if I go through with it. Anyway, I really hope that you guys will forgive me for the long wait!

Unnamed Anon: Thank you!

Also, a reminder: With the way review replies have changed I can not reply to your review if you have private messaging turned off!


	27. Chapter Twenty Six

Sam headed into school Wednesday morning feeling extremely glad that there were only three school days left until the assembly. The plan seemed to be going perfectly, but the honesty it had required from them had revealed many things that the others hadn't been aware of. The majority of the group was a strange combination of embarrassed and angry. Many of them had tried in the past to hide how bad things could get for them from the others and now there seemed to be no secrets. They were all upset at how things had been for their friends and feeling guilty for not having noticed. They were more determined then ever to put a stop to what was going on. Needless to say, tensions were high among the glee kids.

He began his usual morning workout and tried to forget about the coming school day and all that would come with it. That didn't help very much as his thoughts then turned to what was going on with his foster family. The court date for the decision about Seth was coming up and they all knew that he would most likely be going home. Though he knew that Seth's mother was doing better and that Seth wanted to go back to her, that wouldn't stop him from missing his foster brother. Foster siblings came and went often, that was a fact of his life, but no matter how hard he tried, he always seemed to end up attached to the ones who treated him well. He only hoped that they would be able to keep in contact with the little boy.

The other children were affected as well. They were all quieter then usual and Aiden continued to burst into tears whenever Seth talked about his mother. Seth hadn't been talking about her as much in the last few days, however. The nine year old had finally realized that going home would mean leaving the others. He seemed to be struggling with the knowledge that having his mother meant not having them and having them would mean not having his mother. There was no real option in between, no happy medium. The best option would be if his mother allowed him to remain in contact and that was certainly not a given fact.

As he began to get ready to head for his next class, he wondered how his friends were doing. There had been no appearance from Finn in the middle of his workout, he had only shown up once with Puck since he had been back. Finn had lately seemed to prefer doing his best to put on his own bodyguard act with Kurt before his brother shooed him off. Sam hoped things would go back to normal after the assembly. He was beginning to miss his best friend's tendency to show up babbling, often preventing Sam from getting to lost in thought about things that Sam generally didn't enjoy thinking about. He missed the lighthearted conversations about school, glee club and girls. That had felt normal. He wanted so badly to be normal.

* * *

He slipped into an easy conversation with Artie as they waited for their teacher to arrive. Talk of last nights homework and Mr. Schue's mentions of a concert to raise money for national's quickly turned to the trip to New York the club would take at the end of the year.

"It's really exciting, you know? My parents are going to come and my sister called last night to say that she's going to come to see us perform too! Is your family coming?" Artie asked.

"Um, I'm sure one of them will at least. We haven't really planned for sure yet, been busy." Sam replied vaguely. He felt guilty for hiding so much from his teammates. He had learned a lot about all of them in the past week and a half and while part of him wanted to open up to his friends, he was still afraid to.

"That's cool. My mom says she'll tape it for anyone's parents who can't come. We usually send the video to Kimberly too, I'm glad that she'll be there this time. She's never seen us perform in person before." his friend continued.

The teacher walked in before Sam could reply and the two boys turned their attention to the class.

* * *

He tried to ignore the soreness from yet another locker shove as he headed to his usual lunch table. He smiled as he sat next to his girlfriend but the smile he got in a return seemed a little forced when she noticed his still-damp hair.

"Again?" she asked as he sat down.

"It'll be over soon, I'm fine. How did your test go?" he replied, quickly changing the subject.

"I hate that class." she said with a sigh, "I think I did ok, but I'm glad it's over."

"I'm sure you did wonderfully." he said, kissing her on the cheek.

"How about you? How has your day been, well, other then the obvious." she responded.

"It's been fine. We had to search for Seth's shoes again this morning, but other then that it's gone pretty well." he commented, rolling his eyes playfully before ending with a smile.

Quinn laughed softly before changing the subject again, "I think the songs for the assembly are nearly ready,".

"Yeah, it's driving Mike crazy how simple the choreography has to be though. But even Finn admits he's dangerous with that cast." he said with a smirk as he pushed his food around his tray.

"I think that's an understatement. His dancing can be dangerous in normal situations." Quinn joked lightly.

"True." Sam replied with a laugh.

"Are you ok? You're not eating." Quinn asked as she gave a concerned look at his full lunch tray.

"I'm just not really hungry." Sam said in an attempt to brush it off.

"Are you sure?" his girlfriend questioned, still worried.

"I'm fine." he insisted before quickly turning the conversation back to their upcoming performance.

* * *

"Do you know what's wrong with Artie?" Sam asked as he took a seat near Mercedes, "I just passed him in the hallway and he seems really upset."  
"He and Lauren spent lunch in the AV room and apparently they saw something that upset them. All he'll tell me is he needs to talk to Kurt." she replied, obviously worried about her friends.

"That doesn't sound good." Sam replied as he began to worry more himself.

"No. Something must have happened." his friend replied vaguely, "I wish Kurt wouldn't try to hide so much."

Sam nodded in a agreement as he thought about what that implied. If Artie needed to talk to Kurt about it, that seemed to mean that he hadn't expected to see whatever they saw. It meant that Kurt could be back to hiding things again. Considering how that ended last time, it was certainly reason enough to worry.

* * *

Sam had spent several very uncomfortable minutes sitting in the choir room while several people shot concerned looks at Kurt and Kurt pretended that nothing was wrong. He had filled Quinn in on what he knew before they walked into the room. At least half of the club now seemed to be waiting for Artie to show up and when he came in just behind Finn and Puck, pushing the door shut behind him, every eye was on him.

"Kurt, why didn't you say anything?" was the first thing out of the worried looking boy's mouth.

"I don't know what you mean." Kurt replied, shifting uncomfortably in his seat.

"Mike got slushied this morning, but he didn't remember the exact time. Lauren and I ate lunch in the AV room looking through the videos of the hall he was in." Artie said softly.

Kurt paled and Sam could feel the tension in the room rise.

"After Puck and Finn walked away from you, we saw what happened with Karofsky. Kurt, I wish you would have told us this." the other boy said with genuine concern for his friend.

"It was nothing." Kurt said quickly, still looking pale and afraid.

"That wasn't nothing!" Lauren said, speaking up about whatever had happened for the first time, "I saw how he touched you, I saw how scared you were. That's not nothing, that's not normal, it's wrong." she said firmly.

There was a shocked silence throughout the room before Finn spoke up. "What does that mean? 'How he touched you'? What did he do?" the tall boy asked with horror in his voice as he headed quickly towards his brother.

"It was just... it's just ... creepy. It wasn't anything that bad. I mean he didn't really do anything major. He just scares me, usually." Kurt replied softly, starring at the ground and refusing to look up.

"What does that mean Kurt?" a voice said from the doorway.

The whole room turned to look as Mr. Shoue pulled the door shut behind him and walked into the room. Kurt looked like a deer caught in the headlights as his head jerked up to look at the teacher.

"Kurt, what does that mean?" the choir teacher repeated.

"He just likes to scare me. He says ... things. And sometimes he touches me and it just feels ... wrong. Creepy." the small boy whispered, back to speaking to the floor. In the silence of his room, his voice carried to his horrified friends anyway.

"That's what you wouldn't tell us before you left, isn't it?" Mr. Shoue asked.

"What did he do?" Finn asked gently, "That's why you left, right? There was a reason he threatened to kill you. What. Did. He. Do?"

Kurt's face had gone from being ghostly white to red with embarrassment at the attention focused on him and there was a moment of silence before he finally responded, "He kissed me,".

That was all it took for the room to erupt in chaos. Santana was ranting in Spanish as Brittany looked confused, Finn pulled Kurt into a hug, Mike paced, Lauren and Puck began muttering some very interesting threats and the other girls burst into tears, some of them muttering that they should have noticed. Sam was beginning to wish that he'd done a lot more to Karofsky during that fight.

"What on earth made that ..." Santana broke back into a string of very interesting insults in Spanish, "think he had any right to kiss you? He's tortured you for years! How stupid does he have to be think that would translate into it being ok to kiss you?"

"Do you want me to hurt him? Cause I really want to hurt him." Puck said, looking about five steps past angry.

"No. I don't want you going back to jail." Kurt said as he tried to free himself from Finn's hug. "This can't go in the video. Please. I don't want everyone to see. I didn't want _anyone_ to see."

"Of course it's not going in the video. It's going straight to the police," Lauren said.

"Lauren-" Kurt started, but she cut him off.

"You tell us where we can find anything like that, we'll put it all together and when the police get involved after the assembly - and they _will_, because that jerk and his friends are already on bail - we'll give them that too. If it's on video, he can't get away with it." she insisted.

Kurt just nodded.

"I wish you would have told us this before, Kurt." the teacher said.

"I just ... I was ... embarrassed and I knew if I told and people found out, it'd be awful for him." the boy replied.

"You're a good person, Kurt, but he doesn't deserve that. He lost any right to sympathy when he tormented you for years, when he kissed you, when he threatened to kill you and when he nearly killed your brother. He can't just get away with this, that doesn't help him or anyone else." Mercedes pointed out to her best friend.

There was a flash of anger in Kurt's watery eyes at the mention of what had happened to his brother, "You're right, 'Cedes." he declared, "Is it ok if I just go through the tapes with Artie though?" he asked carefully, looking at his childhood friend.

"Sure. You two will go through the tapes after school and Puck and I'll wait with your brother." she said in a tone of voice that meant there would be no arguments.

"And Kurt doesn't go anywhere alone until Karofsky's gone." Finn added shooting a protective glance at his brother.

The others nodded and after a moment of awkward silence, Santana spoke up again. "Ok, then. Let's go back to practicing so we can take him down in style." she said with a smirk.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I'm so sorry this took so long, I've been at my grandmother's for a week and have no internet on my laptop. I have the next three chapters already written though! This one was hard to edit do to a lot going on, but I wanted to get it up tonight.

PS: I have a poll up on my profile, please answer it!

_Tessie: _I'm so glad you still like the story! Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere! I've actually got the assembly written already.


	28. Chapter Twenty Seven

Sam supposed he shouldn't have been surprised when Finn, Puck and Kurt all walked into the room where he was working out. He had gotten several texts from an annoyed Finn the night before because Kurt was refusing to tell their parents about what had really happened with Karofsky before the assembly. Kurt was claiming that two days wouldn't make much of a difference if the glee club wasn't going to leave him alone and Finn just wanted Karofsky back in jail. He'd had a feeling that Finn wouldn't be letting Kurt out of his sight until he absolutely had to, Finn was taking the role of big brother very seriously.

"You can't say anything to him, you can't do anything to him, _you can not give him death glares._" Kurt ranted.

"Come on, I can't even glare at him?" Puck said, his voice nearing a whine.

Sam decided to step in and try to explain what Kurt obviously wasn't going to say.

"If he threatened to kill Kurt, maybe it is just best to leave him alone until he ends up arrested again." he said calmly.

"Oh. Sorry." Puck responded, looking embarrassed.

"We're not going to do anything to make Karofsky mad and we're not letting Kurt out of our sight either." Finn added firmly, switching back and forth between mildly glaring at Puck for not dropping the issue and shooting worried glances at his little brother.

"I'm not going to break, Finn." Kurt said with a sigh.

"No, your not. Because nobody is getting near you again. I should have never agreed to letting them drop the bodyguard plan for you in the first place. I should have noticed something more was wrong." Finn responded, looking guilty.

"I didn't want you to notice! And I'm not helpless!" the younger brother nearly yelled.

"We know you're not helpless, Kurt. You've handled this by yourself for a long time, but we don't want to see you hurt anymore. You're our friend and you're Finn's brother. We just want you to be safe." Sam said gently, hoping to calm the other boy down.

"I know." Kurt said softly.

"Hey ... he didn't like ... touch you, touch you right? It was just the kiss and stuff like what was on the videos?" Puck asked suddenly.

"No, he didn't. He didn't get the chance." Kurt began, sounding embarrassed, "I got mad and followed him into the locker room - which was stupid" it was clear that he was angry with himself and Finn didn't let him finish.

"No, it wasn't! You didn't know! It wasn't your fault!" his brother cut in.

Kurt shot Finn a glare before turning back to Puck, "_Which was stupid_ and that was when he kissed me. I didn't make that mistake again. Anytime he ran into me there were people there or people could be there any second. He wasn't going to risk anything that obvious." he explained.

"Good. I haven't beaten him to a pulp yet because you don't want me too, but if he'd done that I would have been obligated to kill him with or without your permission." the boy with the mohawk declared protectively.

"You would have had to get in line. I still make no promises on what will happen if he ends up out on bail again after this. I bet I could do some damage with this." Finn said as he examined his cast.

"Your cast is not a weapon!" Kurt exclaimed, horror written across his face.

"Oh, come on! I bet it'd really-" his brother was cut off.

"Your. Cast. Is. Not. A. Weapon. _Finn Hudson!_" Kurt nearly screamed.

Sam sat back and watched in mild amusement as Kurt made Finn swear under some very interesting threats that his cast was not to be used to cause any kind of damage. Sometimes it was hard to imagine the relationships in the glee club having ever been any different. He had seen Kurt's relationship with Finn and Puck get closer over the course of the year, but it was hard to imagine Finn and Puck having ever been among the people who had hurt Kurt. Watching Puck with Kurt, Artie and Rachel, it was easy to forget that the boy who seemed to have declared himself the unofficial big brother of the entire glee club had once been the leader of the bullies they were working so hard to stop.

* * *

"Are you ready for the assembly tomorrow?" Sam asked Tina as they waited on the teacher who always seemed to be late to her own class.

"I think so, but I'm nervous," she admitted.

"You did great at Regionals." Sam said in an attempt to comfort his friend.

"That was just a couple of lines though. This is lead on the whole song." she explained, looking embarrassed.

"And you've been sounding great at practice, and you'll be great tomorrow. I was really nervous before Sectionals, but that went fine and this will too." he assured her.

"I hope so. I don't want to mess this up," Tina replied.

"You won't. You're going to show them just how awesome you are and then we'll show them everything and things will get better." he said softly to keep from being overheard.

"Yeah. Not much longer now." she said as the teacher finally walked in.

* * *

"You know, I thought of something earlier." Sam said as he sat next to Quinn.

"What is it? Another genius plan?" she replied with a light smile.

"I don't think it really took a genius to realize this. We've just been too focused on everything else." he responded, smiling back at his girlfriend.

"Well, what did you think of?" she questioned.

"I think that we may have to put off our date until Saturday night. Something tells me tomorrow night may be a bit ... chaotic." he explained.

"Something tells me you may be right. Are you nervous about this too?" she asked.

"Yeah, I think that everything should go according to plan, but we can't really plan the aftermath and I am worried about that. We don't know how everyone will react." Sam replied in a near whisper, with concern obvious in his voice.

"If we have this on video, surely things will have to change. We'll just have to handle whatever the immediate reaction is and know that once we get the footage out there - and especially if Coach Sylvester comes through - we should have a lot of people on our side." Quinn said just as quietly.

"I'm just worried that Phil and Jessica will be upset with me. I kind of downplayed everything and I really don't want to upset them." he explained, clearly worried.

"We've all downplayed it. I can tell them I did too if you want me too. They'll probably be upset that you didn't tell them all that happened, but I don't think they'll really be mad." she said in an attempt to comfort her boyfriend.

"I hope so." he replied softly.

* * *

"Okay guys, this is the last real practice we have before the assembly. We'll need to be setting up tomorrow." Mr. Shoue said as he walked into the room and shut the door.

The room had gone silent as soon as he showed up and the teacher looked at all of them for a moment before speaking again.

"Alright. I can tell that you guys are up to something. This is about tomorrow isn't it? What do you have planned?" he asked.

"It's nothing bad. Coach Sylvester knows about it." Puck spoke up.

"Why does that not comfort me?" the teacher said with a sigh.

"We may cause a scene, but all we're doing is making sure that everyone knows the kind of things that go on around here. It was my idea, please don't be mad at the others," Sam explained.

"This is about the video you want to use, isn't it?" Mr. Shoue asked.

"I hid some camera's and we have some footage that I'm sure parents will find interesting," Lauren said.

"We can't let them keep hurting everyone. What happened with Finn was the last straw, but we should have done something like this a long time ago," Puck added.

"You have permission from everyone who will be in this right?" the teacher asked after a moment of silence.

"Well, we didn't exactly march up and ask the bullies if they minded us exposing them." Puck commented with a smirk.

"Yes, we have permission, Mr. Shoue. We're only showing video of us and few kids in the AV club who agreed to help." Artie said as he rolled his eyes at his best friend.

"Well, I guess I've let you guys cause chaos at assembly's for worse reasons. I'm not going to stop you." Mr. Shoue informed them.

A round of high-fives went around the room before they began practicing. Just one more day.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I hope this chapter's ok! There's just one more chapter to go before the assembly now! I'm now officially 99.9% that the AU S3 sequel to this story will happen. It's pretty much planned itself out, I just need a title and to sit down and write out a full outline.

From looking at the poll I've decided to give you guys this option: If you want to know which characters will have major storylines in the AU S3 sequel, let me know and I'll either PM it to you or post it in the next AN. Also, if anyone who has an account here and has PMs turned on would like the list of the six "theme songs" I've chosen for six of the storyline arcs, please let me know. I'm sorry for my anon reviewers, but I don't want to spoil that for people that for people that don't want to know by posting it in the AN, some of the songs will make it very obvious what the storylines are about (just not _who_ they're about).

_Tessie:_ Thank you! I hope you like it!


	29. Chapter Twenty Eight

Friday morning found Sam having to force himself to stop pacing before he could begin his workout. He wasn't exactly sure what his reaction should be to the fact that he and his friends were about to do something that would upset his foster parents, upset many other parents, upset most of his school and possibly get him in trouble. He especially wasn't sure what his reaction should be when he's the one who planned the whole thing and one of his main goals in life is not to do any of the above. Finally, he decided that it didn't really matter what his reaction should be as knowing that wouldn't change the fact that he was on the verge of a panic attack.

He had gotten very little sleep and had barely managed to choke down the half piece of toast necessary to convince his foster mother that he had eaten breakfast. He was extremely glad that even though it was his plan, he was not responsible for finishing the video or singing lead on either song. He wasn't sure he would be capable of anything that important when he already felt close to hyperventilating. There had been a nerve-wracking conversation with his foster parents the night before when they had informed him that they wanted to bring the kids to the assembly. Sam had quickly declared that it wouldn't be appropriate, then had to even more quickly inform them that he didn't mean that kind of inappropriate. It had taken nearly half an hour to explain that it was a secret and that no one outside of New Directions knew except for a few other students who were involved and two teachers, but that they were not doing anything wrong.

He was fairly certain that the public aspect of what they had planned would keep them from getting in any real trouble with the school. Technically, they'd had permission from a concerned teacher in the form of Coach Sylvester and the others had assured him that there weren't many brave enough to go against her. He still wasn't sure that he wouldn't get in trouble with his foster parents considering the fact that he had deliberately mislead about the bullying. He was terrified that all he had done would go to waste and that they would send him away for lying to them, but he had to keep his friends safe, no matter what it could cost him.

* * *

"Hey!" Sam had said as he sat next to Artie in their first period class, "Did you guys finish it?" he added softly.

"Almost. We're going to eat lunch in the AV room again and put the final touches on it." his friend informed him.

"Final touches?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, I know we're singing live, so it might not be exact, but Lauren has a few clips that she wants to try and time to show at certain points." the other boy explained.

"Oh, ok. I'm sure it's gonna come out great." Sam said with a nervous smile.

"I'll just be glad to be done. I'm sick of having to see all that. I really hope this works." Artie responded, looking nervous as well.

"Well, we'll know soon." the blond replied as the teacher walked in.

* * *

"I missed you." Sam said as he sat down next to his girlfriend in the cafeteria.

"Sam, you saw me in the hallway an hour ago." Quinn responded, looking confused.

"So? I can't miss you after an hour?" he replied with a smile.

"You're such a dork. But I love you." she replied, kissing him on the cheek.

He was still afraid that she wouldn't love him if she really knew everything about him, even though there was a tiny bit of hope that kept telling him that she had already found out a lot about him and she hadn't run yet. He couldn't make himself believe it though, if he let himself get his hopes up it would only hurt more when she either found someone better or figured out that he wasn't worth her time. He decided that it was best to take things day-by-day, and enjoy being with her while he was. Sometimes, it was still hard to ignore the part of him that dreamed of someday giving her another couple of rings, though.

"Are you nervous about tonight?" he asked.

"Yeah, but I've decided to think positive. I have practice with that, you know. Coach Sylvester says Cheerios aren't allowed to even think of losing." she replied with a playful smile.

"I wish I was as good at that as you. I try, I really do, but somehow I end up imagining everything that could go wrong anyway." he admitted, looking embarrassed.

"It'll be ok. You were right, our parents won't just sit by anymore after seeing what goes on. Things will have to change after tonight." she whispered in an attempt to calm her boyfriend down.

Sam nodded, "Thanks. Is your mom coming?" he asked.

"Yeah, what about you?" she responded.

"Jessica's going to come. They were all coming - I had to talk them out of it. That was rather interesting," he explained.

* * *

"You think you have the routine's down?" Mike asked the moment Sam sat next to him.

"I think so." the other boy responded.

"Good. I think everyone does. I'm just glad Finn will be up front and ... away from everyone else for the second song." Mike responded.

"Well, Kurt will be up front too." Sam pointed out.

"Yes, but Kurt's good at dodging, and they won't have to be very close together." his friend explained.

"True." the blond conceded.

"I'll just be glad when his cast is off. It will lower the danger factor of glee practice by a lot."

Sam couldn't help but laugh.

* * *

The New Directions made for a very nervous looking group as they gathered in the choir room. Tina was pacing as Mike desperately tried to calm her down, Lauren and Artie were repeatedly assuring the others that the video was finished, Rachel was singing under her breath as though she was the one singing lead and Brittany looked confused. Sam had decided to watch the chaos and freak out internally, though Quinn sitting next to him with her head on his shoulder was doing a fairly good job of distracting him from that. Suddenly, the door opened and Puck steered a worried working Kurt into the room as Finn pulled the door shut.

"Will you please tell him that you aren't going to hate him so he'll calm down!" Puck said as he gestured to the pale boy.

"Why would we hate him?" Artie asked.

"Because I told my dad what we're going to do!" Kurt exclaimed in mild panic, "I was afraid that if he saw the video without any warning he would have another heart attack. I had to warn him! He thinks it's a good idea." the boy explained, adding the last part on as if to calm them down.

"So he's not mad and he's not going to stop us, right?" Quinn asked gently.

"Yes, he said it was a good idea." Kurt responded.

"Then why would we be mad? We know you worry about him, we should have just told you that you could tell him," Quinn said as the others agreed.

Kurt seemed to visibly calm down and Mercedes pulled him into a hug before directing him over to where she was sitting.

"He's been worried all day. Me, Puck and Mercedes couldn't convince him that it was ok and no one would be mad at him." Finn explained as he took a seat near Sam, saving another seat for his still pacing and singing girlfriend."

"Ok, guys! Tonight's the night! Lets run through the songs a few more times and then I have a surprise for you!" Mr. Shoue said as he walked into the room.

* * *

Sam did his best to beg off when the pizza showed up, but Quinn proved to be nearly as good at making sure he ate as Jessica always was at dinner. He had tried to tell her that he was too nervous to eat, but she had quickly pointed out that he hadn't eaten lunch either and nervous or not, he had to eat something. He had to choke down two pieces of pizza before she left him alone. He decided that he shouldn't have to put _too_ much extra time into his workouts considering that it was basically all he'd eaten for the whole day, an hour more should do. That still didn't make it any easier to eat when he was so nervous that he was half-afraid of passing out.

By the time they were done eating it was time to change and set up for the performance. Artie and Lauren were quickly giving instructions to their friend from the AV club who had agreed to run the video as the others made sure that everything had been set up and was going according to plan. Sam looked over at Finn who was watching his brother in amusement as Kurt began pacing and singing under his breath exactly the way Rachel had been earlier. Finn's bright red cast would certainly stand out when they all took the stage in their matching dark blue tee-shirts, but he supposed that was a good thing.

He nearly hyperventilated again when he realized just how many people were showing up, but he couldn't help but smile when he noticed Coach Sylvester there with a camera crew from the news station she worked for. That should ensure that things would change. He turned back to his nervous friends and reminded himself that it wouldn't be long now. Principal Figgins would make a few announcements but they were scheduled to perform fairly early. This was it.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I hope you guys like this and you aren't to mad that this wasn't actually the performance chapter. I promise though that the performance chapter will be up in just a few days. It's already written!

_Tessie_: Thank you! I hope you're not too upset that this wasn't actually the chapter where they performed!


	30. Chapter Twenty Nine

After they made a few more attempts to assure Tina that she would do wonderfully, it was time to take the stage. They had decided that the video would only be played during the second song to give less time for someone to put a stop to what they were doing and because the message of Tina's song should still be very clear to the one's who had treated her so badly even without the video. Sam took a deep breath as Rachel stepped towards the microphone. There was no going back now.

"Hello everybody! We are McKinnley High's New Directions! We have decided to make sure that one of our most talented members gets the attention she deserves, so please welcome our first soloist Tina Cohen-Chang!" Rachel said to the general shock of most who knew her before handing the microphone off to Tina.

Tina stepped forward and she seemed to forget where she was as she relaxed and began to sing.

"_I am unwritten, can't read my mind, I'm undefined  
I'm just beginning, the pen's in my hand, ending unplanned"_

Sam couldn't help but enjoy the looks he spotted on the faces of a few in the audiences as Tina sang. A quick glance at the others confirmed that Finn hadn't managed to knock anyone over yet.

_"Staring at the blank page before you  
Open up the dirty window  
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find  
Reaching for something in the distance  
So close you can almost taste it"_

As they continued to dance in the background Sam noticed the proud smiles on the faces of the other club members. Tina was knocking the song out of the park. Nobody would dare say she couldn't sing after tonight and if they did, it would be laughable. He took another deep breath before the group joined in with Tina on the chorus.

_"Release your inhibitions  
Feel the rain on your skin  
No one else can feel it for you  
Only you can let it in  
No one else, no one else  
Can speak the words on your lips  
Drench yourself in words unspoken  
Live your life with arms wide open  
Today is where your book begins  
The rest is still unwritten"_

The others seemed to be having fun with the song and the simple, upbeat dance Mike had choreographed for them. Sam did his best to simply enjoy performing the song along with them and forget about what would happen in a few minutes.

_"Oh, oh, oh  
I break tradition, sometimes my tries, are outside the lines  
We've been conditioned to not make mistakes, but I can't live that way  
Staring at the blank page before you  
Open up the dirty window  
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find  
Reaching for something in the distance  
So close you can almost taste it"_

For as nervous as she had been before the performance, the ease with which Tina sang along with her obvious talent made him wonder why she had so rarely gotten to sing before. It was something else that he hoped would change now. Though the group was already quite close, the last two weeks had brought them all even closer and he hoped that would cause some of them to be a bit more willing to share the spotlight. After a second chorus with the group, Tina sang the next few lines on her own again.

_"Drench yourself in words unspoken  
Live your life with arms wide open  
Today is where your book begins"_

As they came to the end of the song Sam had to fight his own nervousness again. He didn't have time to guess what the others were thinking before the group joined Tina for the last time in a slightly different version of the chorus.

_"Feel the rain on your skin  
No one else can feel it for you  
Only you can let it in  
No one else, no one else  
Can speak the words on your lips  
Drench yourself in words unspoken  
Live your life with arms wide open  
Today is where your book begins  
The rest is still unwritten  
The rest is still unwritten"_

The rest of the choir went silent for Tina to sing the final line of the song and as he took the chance to glance at the others, he noticed that some of them were also beginning to look nervous again.

_"The rest is still unwritten"_

Tina finished the song before she seemed to tense again. She had been tasked with a small speech that would begin the final phase of their plan. A quick glance into the audience confirmed that Coach Sylvester had made her way to the principal to keep him from interfering if he tried and Sam was able to feel a tiny bit of relief. If he could just make it through the next few minutes without passing out everything should be ok.

"Thank you!" Tina said as the applause died down, nervousness now noticeable in her voice, "Our next song will be lead by two brothers who we really felt deserved this. Kurt had to leave the school for a few months after his life was threatened, but two weeks after after his brother was beaten he decided he couldn't stay somewhere where he was safe if his brother wasn't, so we decided to allow them to perform the next song. Please welcome Kurt Hummel and Finn Hudson!" Tina stated quickly before handing Kurt her microphone and hurrying back to her place in the group as Finn took a second one.

They were all glad to quickly turn their backs on the audience as some looked angry or upset while others gave hesitant, confused applause. The one drawback to their position was that it meant they could see the video playing behind them until they joined in with Finn and Kurt.

_"I am a question to the world  
Not an answer to be heard  
Or a moment that's held in your arms"_

Kurt began the song as clips of him being slushied and slammed into lockers played behind him. They couldn't help but wince as they watched their friend be hurt and Sam wondered how the audience was reacting.

_"And what do you think you'd ever say?  
I won't listen anyway  
You don't know me"_

Finn sang his first few lines as similar clips played behind him, showing several times that he and one of the others had been slushied between classes since he had come back after his injury.

_"And I'll never be what you want me to be"_

The brother's voices joined together as they sang with emotion, obviously meaning the words of the song. Sam couldn't help but think that the song Kurt had chosen really did fit them.

_"And what do you think you'd understand?"_

Finn sang as clips of the others began to play instead of clips of only the two brothers.

_"I'm a boy, no, I'm a man"_

They sang together as the others continued to step back and forth as they faced wall to keep the focus on Finn, Kurt and the video.

_"You can't take me and throw me away"_

The others winced again as a clip of Kurt being thrown into the dumpster was shown. Sam had a feeling the principal and a few others might be deaf once Kurt's father finished with them this time.

_"And how can you learn what's never shown?  
Yeah, you stand here on your own  
They don't know me  
Cause I'm not here"_

The boys sang together again as the music built up for the chorus and the group turned around as they sang the last word.

_"And I want a moment to be real  
Wanna touch things I don't feel  
Wanna hold on and feel I belong  
And how can the world want me to change?  
They're the ones that stay the same  
They don't know me  
Cause I'm not here"_

The group joined Kurt and Finn for the chorus and began the dance routine that Mike had come up with for the song. They were glad to no longer be watching the video but the rather horrified faces they could make out in the audience made it impossible to forget what was being shown behind them.

_"And you see the things they never see"_

Kurt surprised the group by turning to face them as he sang, something that Sam had a feeling might end with the girls in tears.

_"All you wanted I could be"_

Finn sang his line to the group as well and it seemed as though they had planned to do it.

_"Now you know me and I'm not afraid"_

As the brothers sang together again, a quick glance confirmed that Mercedes and Tina already had tears in their eyes.

_"And I want to tell you who I am"_

Kurt sang as he continued to face the rest of the choir.

_"Can you help me be a man?"_

Sam had to fight a smile as he remembered Quinn informing him how close that line was to what was apparently one of Finn's favorite compliments.

_"They can't break me  
As long as I know who I am"_

The brothers sang together again, turning first to face each other before turning back to the audience.

_"And I want a moment to be real  
Wanna touch things I don't feel  
Wanna hold on and feel I belong  
And how can the world want me to change?  
They're the ones that stay the same  
They can't see me  
But I'm still here"_

As the group repeated the chorus Sam did his best to focus on anything but the faces in the audience. They certainly had the attention of everyone in the room, but he was still worried about how it would all go over once the song ended.

_"They can't tell me who to be  
Cause I'm not what they see"_

Finn sang with determination obvious in his voice before turning to his brother as Kurt took over.

_"Yeah, the world is still sleepin'  
While I keep on dreamin' for me"_

His brother sang his lines with passion, starring out into the audience.

_"And their words are just whispers and lies  
That I'll never believe"_

As they sang together again, Sam couldn't help but wonder if there would be a few more brotherly duets in the future. Finn and Kurt's voices sounded very good together and for all of the little arguments they'd had, they seemed to get along quite well now.

_"And I want a moment to be real  
Wanna touch things I don't feel  
Wanna hold on and feel I belong  
And how can they say I'll never change?  
They're the ones that stay the same  
I'm the one now  
'Cause I'm still here"_

Sam did his best to fight back the nervousness as they sang the final chorus of the song. It was almost over and then they would have to face the outcome, good or bad. They had done their best and now it was up to everyone else to take what they'd been shown and change things.

_"I'm the one  
Cause I'm still here"_

The brothers sang together for a final time, shooting a smile at each other.

_"I'm still here"_

Kurt gave his last solo line with determination in his voice, making it clear that he wasn't going to make it easy for the bullies at McKinnley and now he was fighting back.

_"I'm still here"_

Finn sang his final line with equal determination. His brother had come back for him and he didn't plan on letting him get hurt anymore.

_"I'm still here"_

The group joined together on the final line of the song before the music stopped and the video ended. There was a shocked silence in the room as they waited for the aftermath.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Ok, don't kill me for the cliffhanger! It won't be long before I update as once again, I already have the next chapter written. I hope you guys like this chapter and the songs they performed!

The songs are Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield and I'm Still Here by Goo Goo Dolls.

_Tessie: _Thank you! I really hope you liked this!


	31. Chapter Thirty

The silence only lasted for a few seconds before chaos erupted. The sheer amount of yelling made it impossible to tell what was being said, but Sam couldn't help but smirk as he caught sight of what appeared to be a couple of the bullies being yelled at by their parents. There seemed to be some yelling directed at a few of the others by random people as well. A crowd was quickly forming around Principal Figgins and the news crew Coach Sylvester had brought looked thrilled. Sam could have almost enjoyed watching the chaos from a distance, but a wave of parents was quickly heading towards them.

An older woman headed straight for Puck, seeming to hug him, lecture him and check him over for injuries all at once. Sam assumed that this was the grandmother Puck often talked about. A man who seemed to be Lauren's father headed for her, followed by a set of identical and rather imposing looking young men who were likely two of the brothers she had mentioned. Kurt and Finn's parents had made their way to them and seemed to be checking them for injuries the same way that Finn often did with Kurt after an 'incident' had been reported, much to Sam's amusement. The death glare that came over Burt's face after Kurt's declaration of "It's just bruises!" had Sam almost worried for the principal. He didn't have any more time to observe his friends' interactions with their families before Jessica made her way to him.

"Oh, Sam. I wish you had told us things were this bad for you here," his foster mother said before pulling him into a hug and looking sad at the initial flinch.

"I'm sorry! It's ... I didn't want you to worry. It's just the way things have been here for a long time, apparently. Glee club isn't cool and if you aren't cool the ones that are like to make sure you know it. I'm sorry. Please don't be mad!" Sam exclaimed, trying to hide just how afraid he was.

"I'm not mad, Sam, I'm worried. You don't have to hide it when someone is hurting you - I don't want you to hide it when someone is hurting you. We want you to be safe, but we can't see everything. We need you to let us know if you're not safe. I don't want you to be hurt anymore, sweetheart," she replied before hugging him again.

Sam let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, "I'm sorry." he repeated as he tried to fight back both tears of relief and thoughts of his life before he came to the Turner family as he knew that was what was behind some of his foster mother's words.

"It's ok. We're all going to figure out how to put a stop to this now," Jessica replied "Whose idea was this little show tonight?" she asked.

Sam looked down as he blushed and she laughed as they headed towards the others to figure out what was going on. Sam shot Mike a sympathetic look as he realized that his friend had been the unlucky one and hadn't been able to keep his younger brother from showing up. Mike gave a small shake of his head and shrugged helplessly as his mother continued to fuss over him and his brother watched him with a mix of shock and concern on his face. Sam remembered that Mike had mentioned his brother being the same age as Ellie and he briefly wondered if they knew each other.

"I've called the police already," Sam heard Mr. Hummel saying, "They let those boys out on bail and I've already got video of them messing with my son's again. If they think they're untouchable they've got another thing coming!" the man continued in a dangerous tone of voice.

Sam spotted Rachel, who looked to be in her element with a microphone held in front of her face and a camera pointed at her. Principal Figgins was much to distracted by angry parents to do anything about the news crew that was now interviewing parents and students alike. Coach Sylvester looked much to pleased with the situation and after a quick concerned glance at Kurt, she had dived into causing as much trouble for the principal and the school board as possible. In between interviewing those in the crowd she would stop to assure people that she had been trying to do something about the bullying problem for quite some time and had helped "those poor children" with their plan.

Another look through the crowd found the men that he assumed were Lauren's brothers doing their best to terrify the boys who had slushied her in the video. He also spotted Quinn talking with her mother and Artie talking with his parents who continued to shoot occasional glares at Figgins, but hadn't yet tried to fight through the crowd to get to him. He did however spot the man who seemed to be Lauren's father in that crowd. Mercedes was standing with the Hummel-Hudson family along with a woman who seemed to be fussing over Finn and Kurt nearly as much as their own parents had and was obviously her mother. Tina's parents seemed to have joined Mike and his family and he spotted what he assumed to be Santana, Brittany and their families somewhere in the crowd. Their parents didn't seem anywhere near as upset as the other parents considering that as they were Cheerios, there had been no bullying incidents with Santana and Brittany on the tapes.

He saw Quinn and her mother heading towards him and couldn't help but feel nervous again. His girlfriends mother had just seen a video that included footage of him being slushied, tripped and slammed into walls. He was afraid that he had just lost her approval and he wasn't sure he'd ever really had it in the first place.

"Hello Sam, Mrs. ... Turner, is it?" Mrs. Fabray asked.

"Yes, you must be Quinn's mother. I'm Jessica Turner," Sam's foster mother replied, introducing herself.

"Judy Fabray, pleased to meet you," Quinn's mother replied.

"You have a lovely daughter," Jessica said in an attempt to break the ice.

"Yes, thank you." Mrs. Fabray responded before turning to Sam, "Quinn tells me that this was your idea."

"Yes, ma'am. It was." Sam told her, trying to hide how nervous he was.

"I like a young man who will stand up for his friends. Especially one who can find a way to do it without violence." the woman replied and Sam felt relief flood him for a second time that night.

Before anything else could be said, several police officers walked into the room and Lauren's father quickly made his way through the crowd and began talking to them as he led them over to the Hummel-Hudson family. At Sam's confused look, Quinn shot him a smirk.

"Lauren's father is a police officer," she said.

Sam suddenly wondered if Lauren's family had any clue who she was dating or if that was part of the reason she had seemed hesitant to actually date Puck in the first place. They watched as Burt ranted for a while, gesturing at Kurt, Finn and any of the bullies he spotted in the crowd before Lauren waved Artie over to them. After a few more minutes, one of the officers followed Artie, Lauren and Lauren's father out of the room, Sam assumed they were going to be showing him the video. As Burt continued to rant and the others continued to try to calm him down, a man who seemed to be Karofsky's father marched him over towards them. Sam wished he knew what was being said as the man lectured his son before turning and seeming to sincerely apologize to Finn, Kurt and their parents.

"You know, Finn said that Karofsky's dad had seemed to be a good guy when he talked to Burt and Kurt, but it's kind of weird to see it," Sam commented.

"It's not really what I would have pictured." Quinn stated in agreement as the two of them continued to watch what was going on as their parents talked in the background.

They watched the others in the room for several more minutes and after Sam convinced Coach Sylvester that he really didn't want to be interviewed, she happily left with her news crew muttering about getting things edited to air that night. The chaos had just started to die down as people began to leave when the group that had left with the police officer came back and after the man talked with the others for a moment, Karofsky was arrested. As he was lead out of the building, the Hummel-Hudson family went with them, along with Artie, Lauren and their families, Sam assumed it was so they could give statements. It wasn't long before one of the other officers made his way to Sam and Quinn.

"Are you Sam Evans and Quinn Fabray?" the man asked.

"Yes sir." Sam said as Quinn nodded.

"I hear that these hidden cameras were your idea, Sam." the officer stated.

"Yes sir, they were. I had to find a way to protect my friends." he replied softly.

"You all did good. Things are going to have to change here now." the man informed them.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I hope this is ok! The ending here feeling a little abrupt, but I couldn't really think of anything else to add there. It may be a bit longer before the next chapter goes up as it's not yet finished, but I promise it won't be too long! Thank you all so much for the reviews, story alerts and favorites. I don't think I say it enough, but they really mean a lot!

_BlackKeys96_: Thank you so much! I'm very glad you liked it!

_Tessie_: Oh, I'm so happy you liked it! Thanks so much!


	32. Chapter Thirty One

"What's wrong, Sam?" were the first words out of Quinn's mouth as she sat down across from her boyfriend at the local coffee shop.

"Seth's going home," was his soft reply.

"Oh, Sam. I'm sorry. I know you'll miss him," she said in an attempt to comfort her boyfriend.

"I know he wants to go home and his mom does seem to have changed, so I'm happy for him. It's just that ... yeah, I'll miss him," Sam responded.

"I'll pray that you'll be able to keep in touch with him," Quinn said with a reassuring smile.

"Thanks. Aiden was crying when I left. I hate seeing him upset," the blond boy explained.

"I know, but hopefully all of you will be able to stay in touch and it will all be ok. When does he have to leave?" she asked.

"Next Saturday. We've only got one more week," he replied.

"It'll be ok, Sam," was all she could think to say.

"I'm sorry. I don't want to ruin this. How are you doing? Did everything go ok last night after you left?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, it was fine. The news segment was ... let's go with interesting," his girlfriend replied.

"Well, at least people know what goes on at McKinley now. Declaring she's been trying to save us all for years was a bit much considering I'm pretty sure she only helped for Kurt though," he responded with a small laugh.

"Oh, come on. We never expected anything less. She wouldn't be Coach Sylvester if she didn't pull something like that." Quinn said with a laugh of her own.

"True." Sam replied, smiling.

Though Sue's news segment had stretched the truth quite a bit in her favor, with some editing to blur faces, they had shown the some of the hidden camera footage. Anyone who watched the news now knew what went on at the high school and they were all hoping that along with everything else, it would cause enough protesting to change things. They had done all they could for the moment, now it was up to the adults do use the information they had provided to make McKinley High a safer place. Considering the police officers last night had seemed to think it would work, Sam couldn't help letting his hopes get a little high. Things were finally going to work out. At least, things were finally going to work out at school.

He wasn't to sure about how things would work out at home though. Seth going home was a big change for all of them. They had all grown to love him as a brother and they would miss him when he was gone. Sam knew that Seth's mother had apparently changed, but that didn't stop him from worrying for the little boy's safety. Nine years old isn't old enough to be fending for yourself and he knew that was basically what Seth had been doing before he had been taken into foster care. Sam hoped that if they stayed in contact, he could eventually trust that the little boy was safe, but he would be worrying for a while.

"Have you thought any more about the concert Mr. Schue wants to do?" Sam asked, pulling himself out of his thoughts.

"Not really, we have until April. I guess we probably should be thinking about it though," his girlfriend replied.

"Yeah. I think we should start advertising for it. It won't help us raise much money if we try to throw everything together so quickly that no one comes." Sam responded.

"You know, we're kind of getting a lot of attention right now after that news segment. It can't hurt that people will know who we are when we start trying to get people to come, even if they do only come out of pity," she said with a small shrug.

"Well, at least it'd work in our favor a bit there too. We can get more people then family members and friends of family members to come that way," he commented.

"I'm so excited for Nationals. I might not want to live there like Kurt and Rachel, but going to New York is still exciting." Quinn said with a smile.

"I'm excited too. I've never left Ohio," Sam said as casually as he could.

"Never?" Quinn asked in mild shock.

"Foster kids don't usually get to travel much. Except to different homes," he replied softly.

"Well, then. We're going to have to make sure we have a blast in New York to make up for that," his girlfriend replied with a smile.

* * *

"Jessica?" Sam said, interrupting the silence in the car as they headed home.

"Yes, Sam," his foster mother replied.

"Would it be okay if Quinn came to dinner next Friday? She wants to see Seth again before he goes home," he asked carefully, hoping that she wouldn't be upset by his request.

"Of course she can! The kids just adore Quinn and it would be nice to have her over again," she responded.

Sam smiled to himself as they continued on their way back to the house. He always hated asking for things and it was a relief whenever his foster parents agreed quickly to whatever he had asked for. Now not only would Seth get to see Quinn again before he went home, but Quinn would be a good distraction. He knew that by Friday the children would be upset. Hopefully having Quinn there would help them to calm down and just enjoy their last night with Seth.

* * *

"Sammy! You're back! Did you have fun? Phil changed the channel, but why are your friends on the news? Are they ok?" Aiden said at top speed as soon as he spotted Sam, ignoring Jessica who had headed into the kitchen.

Sam's brain began to run at a thousand miles a minute as he tried to come up with an explanation for Aiden. He bought some time by picking the little boy up and swinging him in a circle.

"Um ... remember how Finn got hurt?" Sam asked the six year old as he led the boy to the couch.

"Uh-huh. And you too, you hurt your lip," the little boy said, nodding as he sat down

"You know how I said that there were some mean people at the school?" Sam questioned as he sat next to him.

"Yeah." his youngest foster brother replied.

"Well, we decided to try and make the mean people be nicer and my friends were telling people about that. That's why they were on the news," the older boy explained carefully.

"So you won't get hurt no more?" Aiden asked, shooting a worried look at Sam.

"That's why we did it. So nobody gets hurt anymore," the other blond responded, carefully wording his reply.

"Good. I don't like it when you're hurt. It's no fun being hurt," the child said as he climbed into his foster brothers lap.

"No, it's not," Sam agreed, having a feeling he knew where things were going.

"You were hurt when you came here," the little boy said softly.

Sam closed his eyes for a moment as he tried to ward off memories, "I was."

"I was hurt when I came here too, so was Anna. But Seth wasn't, right?" the child asked as he turned his head to look at his older foster brother with trusting but worried eyes.

"That's right, Seth wasn't hurt. Seth came here because he had been trying to take care of himself and kids don't need to do that, but Seth's mom knows how to take care of him better now and so he's going to go back to her," Sam replied, doing his best to simplify things for the little boy.

"I don't want him to go. I want him to stay here," Aiden said with his voice nearing a whine, letting Sam know that tears were likely to come soon.

"I know. We're all going to miss him, but Seth misses his mom and his mom misses him. He needs to go back to her now," the older boy said.

Aiden didn't reply and Sam spent the next several minutes holding the little boy as he cried. Jessica had peaked in the room, but Sam did his best to silently indicate that he had everything under control and she walked back out after mouthing a thank you.

* * *

He jerked awake and shot a panicked look around the room before remembering where he was and hoping that he hadn't screamed. He spent the next couple of minutes trying to calm his breathing. When nobody came running into his room, he was able to calm down a bit more. The nightmares were bad enough, but he absolutely hated when the others knew he had one, especially the kids. He much preferred to be the strong 'big brother' and pretend that they hadn't seen how badly he was hurt when he was first placed with him. He much preferred to be the one to protect someone rather than the one who needed protecting.

He had unconsciously curled into a ball again and he was still shaking when he finally thought to look at a clock. 4:17 AM. That confirmed that there was no point in even trying to go back to sleep. If he even managed to dose off again, he was sure that by the time he did he would have to wake up in five minutes to get ready for church. He reached over to turn on the lamp and decided to give himself some time before he chose to or work out first. He would likely have time for both anyway.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I'm so, so, so sorry this took so long! I realized that I really needed to find a beta and then when I did and I had the chapter ready to send, it was almost the holiday weekend and then she was very busy. But I got the chapter back last night and now it's finally ready for you to read! So, thank you very, very much to _Burn Our History_ for beta-ing this chapter! I hope you guys like this one!

_Tessie_: Thank you! You'll find that out in the next couple of chapters!

_BlackKeys96_: Thank you!


	33. Chapter Thirty Two

Chapter Thirty-Two:

Sam was very nervous as he walked into the school that Monday. Being one of the first people there didn't have as much of an advantage as usual, it only gave him more time to worry about the general reaction of the other students. Coach Sylvester had managed to turn the whole thing into a huge scandal, which was now being covered by other news stations. It was obvious that things would have to change, but they still didn't know for sure if they had changed yet. He was worried that Principal Figgins and the school board would drag out any decisions but then again, after Burt Hummel's very interesting televised interview and the very loud conversation between Mr. Hummel and the principal that Finn had told him about, he was trying to remain hopeful.

He hoped that something would be done quickly about the more physical bullying, because he really did hate to see his friends get hurt. On a slightly more selfish thought, he also hoped that the slushy machines would be gone already because he was getting a bit sick of trying to do so much laundry in secret. Of course, it wouldn't be in secret anymore. After seeing the video Jessica had quickly figured out he had been washing the slushy-stained clothing without letting her see it. He had a feeling he wouldn't get away with that again. Surprisingly she hadn't been mad at all, she seemed just as worried as she had been right after she saw the video and he really didn't like that very much either.

He hated that they didn't think he could take care of himself. He obviously couldn't, but he didn't want them to know that. At least he hadn't let anything else slip. His schedule might have been thrown off a bit, but he had always made sure to make up for everything. His weekend had been a bit busy, but he had studied, worked out, helped around the house and spent just as much time with Quinn and his foster siblings as he'd had scheduled. He might have gone a little bit overboard, but that was ok. After what his foster parents had found out, overboard could only help.

"Dude!" Sam heard from behind him. He turned to see Finn and Puck walking in the room with a slightly put out looking Kurt following them.

"Hey! What is it?" Sam responded to Puck.

"We ran by to check and all the slushy machines are labeled 'out of order'! They aren't gone yet, but still!" Finn answered excitedly before Puck could.

"Well, that's progress!" Sam said with a small sigh of relief.

"If I can avoid the dumpster now this should drastically cut down on the amount my clothes that end up ruined," Kurt commented.

"You don't have to avoid it. You're walking into school with me from now on and if they want to mess with you, they're going through me," Finn exclaimed protectively.

Sam tried to hide the amusement on his face as he turned to watch the two brothers. He could sense the upcoming argument as it was an argument that was starting to come up rather often. Finn was determined to protect Kurt and Kurt was determined to insist that he didn't need protecting. Sam couldn't help but feel that this was one argument that Kurt wasn't ever going to win. Finn had decided to take his new role as big brother very seriously.

* * *

Sam couldn't quite believe that they had made it halfway through the day and no one had been slushied. Even though he had known that the machines were labeled 'out of order', months of conditioning still had Sam and his group of friends marveling over going half a day without anyone having to change clothes. Of course, the lack of slushies hadn't meant a lack of insults thrown at them, but they were mostly being muttered under the breaths of the bullies once they realized that Coach Sylvester was patrolling the hallways and handing out detentions to anyone who so much as glared at someone else. She was quite enjoying her chance to play the hero but going just a little overboard. Sam was hoping that in the end, her overreaction and Principal Figgins under reaction would combine to form a sane reaction to the bullying problem.

The principal did seem to listen to Coach Sylvester more then he should. There were more than a few rumors that she had a bit of blackmail on him. Then again, there were rumors that she had blackmail on pretty much everyone. He was just glad that her insanity seemed to be working in someone's favor for once, and the glee club had come to the conclusion that if she wanted everyone to think she had been on their side all along, they would just let her claim that as long as she was on their side now. She got to play the local hero, and they got someone on their side who seemed to have a frightening amount of pull with large amount of people. It was a win/win situation.

Unfortunately, Sam had momentarily forgotten that not all of the bullies were smart enough to learn from the mistakes of others - or even their own mistakes. He didn't even register what had happened until he was suddenly leaning against the lockers and trying not to fall. He didn't even have time to shake it off and force back the memories that were trying to jump to the front of his mind before he heard the screaming.

"Detention for a week! No, two weeks! This is not going to happen any more! Blondie and the others are under my protection now. Apparently that wasn't clear enough yet, but don't worry, now we have two weeks to make that very, very clear," Coach Sylvester declared with a smirk before looking around the hallway to make sure everyone had heard her.

She shot a mildly concerned look at Sam and once he nodded to indicate that he was okay she marched off. The only thing he could think was that it was definitely a good thing that she was on their side in this.

* * *

By Wednesday morning they had managed to figure out that nearly everything being done to protect them was Coach Sylvester's doing. The school board wouldn't meet on the matter until that Saturday and Principal Figgins hadn't done anything but shut down the slushie machines. He also hadn't done anything to stop Coach Sylvester, however. The speculation on what exactly she was blackmailing him with was becoming more and more amusing. Sam couldn't help but find it more likely that the blackmail was the things he hadn't done as principal then that he had killed a mime seven years ago. He had a sneaking suspicion that he knew who was behind that particular rumor. Santana had looked entirely too pleased with herself when she heard new details on that theory and a few others.

By that afternoon, the coach had taken to loudly proclaiming her plans for the school and a large portion of Glee practice had consisted of attempts to calm down Kurt, Mercedes and Tina who were beyond horrified that one of her plans apparently involved uniforms.

"This just isn't fair. I only just got back from Dalton and I barely survived the uniforms there. I can't do that again," Kurt exclaimed with a shudder.

"At least the Dalton uniforms looked good, I don't even want to think about what they might make us wear here!" Mercedes commented.

Tina ranted about stifling creativity and Rachel had been on the receiving end of multiple death glares and desperate shushing when she started to say that uniforms wouldn't really be so bad. It took half an hour before Mr. Schue was finally able to convince them that it would be highly unlikely for the school board to agree to uniforms and that he suspected Sue might even be going overboard intentionally, to force a "compromise" that would actually give them exactly what they wanted in the first place. Sam had decided to remain quiet and not to mention that it was really just as likely that she wanted to see just how much pull she had and how much she could get away with.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I'm so, so, so sorry! Things went crazy in "real life" for a while and then I ended up at my grandmother's for six days with no internet from my laptop - good news though, I'm a good bit ahead in writing this now! This has now been replaced with the beta's version! I hope this is ok!

_Tessie: _I know it's sad, but I wanted to keep this fairly realistic, so it's a necessary evil. I'm glad you liked it!

_BlackKeys96:_ I'm so happy that you liked it!


	34. Chapter Thirty Three

Sam ended up awake earlier then he had intended, because he had barely slept at all the night before. Seth would be going home the next day and he couldn't help but dread it. He had attempted to study for half an hour but he couldn't seem to keep his mind on anything but his foster brother. He went through his normal routine of straightening up around the house before he headed into the kitchen to cook breakfast. As he put the cinnimon rolls in the oven he knew that he couldn't deny that they would be having the same breakfast on Saturday, but he also knew that nobody would complain. It was Seth's favorite.

He eyed the cinnamon rolls for a moment after he took them out of the oven before deciding to skip breakfast altogether. It was never as easy to get out of breakfast on the weekends, so he knew he would end up eating one the next day anyhow, plus, if he skipped breakfast he could eat a little bit at lunch and maybe Quinn would stop worrying. He quickly set about cleaning up the mess he had made and he was nearly done when Jessica walked in.

"Oh, Sam. If you're going to cook, you could at least let me clean up," she said with a bit of a laugh as she helped him finish before grabbing herself a cup of coffee and going to wake the children.

He spent the rest of the morning helping to get the four sleepy and rather grumpy children ready for school. It was oddly bittersweet as he went through the familar routine of searching the house for Seth's shoes and running out the door at the last moment. The car ride to school was quieter than usual and he knew that Quinn would be a welcome distraction that night. Hopefully with her there, they could all relax and just enjoy the last night with Seth. Even if they might need to forget that it was his last night there in order to enjoy it.

* * *

"It's been almost a whole week and nobody's done anything." Finn stated in mild awe as he walked in. For the first time that week, Kurt wasn't following behind him.

"I just hope it stays that way," Sam said.

"Me too. Kurt said that if I didn't stop 'stalking' him he was going to tell our parents that he caught me playing video games when I was supposed to be doing homework ... three times. I don't want leaving him alone to have been a mistake," Finn explained.

Sam tried to fight back a laugh as he replied. "Kurt seems to have learned something from Coach Sylvester."

"Yeah. He can be a little scary sometimes."

"I could see that."

"He's a good brother though. I always wanted a little brother."

Sam just nodded, afraid that agreeing might end up revealing more then he wanted to. Not for the first time, he questioned why he was hiding so much about himself from his friends.

* * *

After the teacher walked out of the classroom, Mike leaned towards his obviously distracted friend, "Are you ok, Sam?" he asked.

"I-" Sam started before he seemed to remember who he was talking to, "Seth - my nine year old foster brother - is going home tomorrow," he said quietly.

"Oh!" Mike replied, mildly startled. "Are you worried that he won't be safe?" he questioned in a whisper.

"I think he'll be ok now. I mean ... it was neglect, he wasn't hurt and I think his mom really is doing better. I just can't be sure. And ... I'll miss him." Sam admitted, slightly embarrassed.

"I get it. That'd be hard."

"It's how things go in foster care, kids come and go all the time but I just - it was hard not to get close to him. He's a good kid."

"I understand, I'll pray for you guys.

"Thanks," Sam said with a small smile just as the teacher walked back in. He quickly turned back to his assignment, trying his best to focus on his work.

* * *

"I want you guys to start thinking about your songs and about how to advertise this concert. We've only got about a month and a half." Mr. Schue told the group.

"Mr. Schue, if I may. We've been talking," Kurt began, motioning his hands to indicate a few others, "and we were wondering if it would be okay to do one song with just the 'original six'?"

"That's fine. I want us to have at least one song with all of us, but I think a few duets or small group numbers as well as solos would be a good idea." he replied.

There was a fair bit of excited whispering around the room as people began trying to decide who they wanted to sing with.

"Are you going to do a solo?" Quinn asked her boyfriend.

"I don't know yet, I'll have to think about it. Are you?" he replied.

"I think so. But I think I would like to do a duet too." she said.

"Who do you want to sing with?" Sam questioned.

"Oh, just a certain blond, singing, guitar playing football player who happens to be my boyfriend." she responded innocently.

* * *

Quinn had shot Sam several amused looks as the children chattered excitedly at her for the entire car ride. Sam was blushing though inwardly baffled as Aiden began going on about how he was going to be just like Sam when he grew up. He understood Aiden mentioning the fact that also wanted to have a girlfriend as pretty as Quinn, but even with as hard as he worked to seem perfect, he still couldn't understand why the little boy wanted to be like him. The not-quite-seven year old was very good at innocent and truthful flattery, but very bad at lying and Sam was trying to process the fact that Aiden meant what he was saying.

They had barely walked into the house before Aiden was tugging Sam towards his room, "Come on, Sam. You have to get your guitar so we can go outside and sing with Quinn!" the little boy insisted.

"Can we?" Ellie asked Quinn, trying hard not to sound quite as excited as she was.

"If Sam wants to, I think that sounds like fun." Quinn replied with a smile.

Sam simply smiled and allowed Aiden to pull him into his room to get the guitar and then outside into the clearing. The girls instantly asked if they could do 'Firework' with Quinn which caused the boys to insist on 'What If' despite Sam's mild protests as he still disliked how close that song hit. After they insisted that Sam and Quinn give a repeat performance of 'I've Had The Time Of My Life' from Sectionals, Seth finally asked for them to sing something that the kids hadn't heard before.

"I'm fairly certain you've eavesdropped on me practicing for pretty much every song we've done in Glee," Sam said in teasing tone.

"Not all of them. And we haven't heard Quinn sing them," the young boy countered.

Sam quickly gave in, knowing that this was the last night with Seth and they ran through a few of the old group numbers with the children dancing and trying to sing along when they came to the chorus parts. When Jessica called them in for dinner, Seth lingered behind the others and turned to Sam.

"You said that you guys are going to do a concert soon, right?" he asked his foster brother.

"Yeah, we're having a concert to help raise money so we can go to Nationals." Sam replied.

"I'm going to ask my mom if we can go. I like to hear you sing and I want to show her how good you are," the boy said with a smile before heading into the house.

Sam closed his eyes and sent up another silent prayer that Seth optomism wasn't misplaced and they would be able to see each other again after tomorrow. Quinn put a comforting hand on his arm and sent him a knowing look before quickly kissing him and leading him into the house.

* * *

Dinner consisted of all of Seth's favorite foods and everyone intentionally keeping the conversation off of the next day. Sam was quickly running mental calculations in his head of how much more he was going to need to work out after a small bowl of ice cream was placed in front of him. He had gotten an odd look from Quinn when he started to protest and so he quickly gave in. They had all headed for the living room after everyone had finished and Seth was allowed to pick out a movie. He had to stifle a groan when Phil came in with a large bowl of popcorn. He quickly insisted that he was full. He didn't care how many odd looks he got, he couldn't eat anymore.

He had to admit that the movie Seth had chosen wasn't bad for a kid's movie and he was fairly certain they had all been able to forget what would happen the next day as they just sat together and laughed. For little while, sitting there with his foster family and his girlfriend he could almost feel normal, like he didn't have an endless amount of things to worry about. Everyone had insisted on going to take Quinn home and once they got back things had quickly gone into the usual chaos of baths, straightening up the house and doing the laundry. Sam had been mildly surprised when Aiden had insisted that Sam had read Seth a story before bed too and the other boy hadn't protest, but he had happily gone along with it. He tried to pretend that it didn't hurt to say goodnight to Seth for the last time.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I hope you guys liked this, it's not my favorite chapter, but I promise the next chapter is very, very important one. It's already written and it will be up no later then next Friday, I promise.

_BlackKeys96: _Thanks! I hoped you liked this!

_Tessie_: Thank you! Sue does have her nice moments and I wanted to work that in - plus, she seemed to like Sam in canon too. I hope this made up a bit for the lack of Quinn, but as I've said before, this isn't a romance and the main focus is on Sam, so there will be chapters without Quinn. As a matter of fact, she won't be in the next chapter - but as I mentioned, the next chapter is a very important one!


	35. Chapter Thirty Four

Even though he always slept a bit later on the weekends, he knew that he still looked more then a little exhausted. He had been up late exercising and working on a last minute project and then he had only managed to doze in and out of sleep for most of the night. He was too upset to sleep. This was why he had tried not to let himself get too close to the children in the Turner household. He had grown up in foster care, seven homes in nine years meant a lot of goodbyes and he hated goodbyes. It hadn't mattered how hard he had tried though, all four children had worked their way into his heart much faster then he could have ever expected and now he was only a few hours away from another goodbye that he knew was going to hurt.

He knew that they all had something small to give to Seth that morning. Jessica and Phil had put together a photo album of the year Seth had spent with them, Ellie had spent a good bit of the money she had saved up on a video game he had been wanting, Anna had picked out a stuffed lion for him and Aiden had gotten him a couple of toy cars and drawn him a picture. Sam had already bought a book that he had thought Seth would like, but after what the boy had said the night before, he had spent several hours figuring out how to make copies of New Directions performances at Sectionals and Regionals to give to the boy. Once he had finally managed to get everything burned onto a DVD he had put a label on the case and placed it with the book.

As he made his second batch of cinnamon rolls in as many days, he nearly groaned out loud when he remembered that there would be cake and ice cream after lunch. He knew it was going to take a lot to eat lunch as well as the treats, but he would eat as little as he could get away with, try and say he wasn't hungry at dinner and spend another late night working out. He had functioned on very, very little sleep before, he could easily do it again. He would go along with everything as best as he could. He wasn't going to do anything to mess up the last few hours they had with Seth, the little boy would be leaving early that afternoon.

He tried to enjoy the usual mild chaos as his foster parents came in for their coffee before waking up the kids and the four sleepy children stumbled into the kitchen. As usual, Seth was the first of the kids to fully wake up and Sam realized just how much he would miss the child's early morning babbling. Sam went about his routine of quickly heading through the house and doing any chore that needed to be done before helping Aiden get ready. Once everyone had gotten ready for the day, the suddenly subdued group went to help Seth pack his things. After over an hour of packing and double and triple checking to make sure nothing had been forgotten, the little boys bags were ready and waiting for the social worker to come that afternoon and take him back to his mother.

After a morning spent playing every game Seth wanted to, it was time for another meal of Seth's favorite foods, and as he had done at breakfast, Sam tried to eat as little as possible which was helped by the fact that, knowing what was coming, he wasn't at all hungry. They started off their little goodbye party with the cake and ice cream, which the children thoroughly enjoyed and Sam choked down a couple of bites of. Once they brought out the presents, things quickly descended into tears. Jessica and Phil did their best to hide their emotions and made it clear that they would miss Seth very much but that they were happy for him and Sam tried to do the same, but the other children were no where near as successful at pretending everything was fine.

Seth had seemed to like everything he had gotten and had thanked Sam several times for the DVD and had cried himself when he went through the photo album and it hit him again that going home meant leaving the family he had known for a year. In much too short an amount of time, the social worker had shown up and the endless round of tearful goodbyes began.

"I'll call lots, I promise. Mama will let me, I know it." Seth had insisted as he found himself in the middle of a group hug.

After they all waved goodbye, Sam spent the rest of the afternoon trying to console a sobbing Aiden.

* * *

Sam had easily begged off of dinner Saturday night as no one had done more then pick at their food. The mood had picked up slightly when Seth had called to say goodnight and they realized that there really was hope that they would not lose all contact with him. Sam had ended up staying with Aiden as the little boy cried himself to sleep when he realized he had the room to himself now. He had then spent an extra hour exercising before he had attempted to sleep and after another restless night, it was a tired and still subdued group that headed for church that morning.

He spent a good bit of the afternoon trying -with little success- to cheer up his three remaining foster siblings before Jessica had ended up putting in a movie for them and he had gone to his room to do his homework and get some studying in before he helped the kids with their homework. The rest of the day had gone as normally as possible without Seth there, though Sam had tried to get his work-out out of the way earlier then usual in hopes that he could get some sleep before the next day. He hadn't expected his to overhear his foster parents talking in the living room on his way back to his room after his shower.

"I'm worried," Jessica said softly.

"I know," her husband replied as Sam continued to head for his room.

What was said next caused him to freeze in his tracks, "There's something wrong with Sam."

"Yeah, I've seen it too." Phil replied.

Sam heard them walking towards their room but he couldn't move, he could barely breath. It wasn't until he heard his foster parent's bedroom door shut that he managed to shake himself out of it enough to go into his own room. He quickly shut the door and sat on his bed as his mind raced. 'Something's wrong with Sam', that couldn't be a good thing. The last time he'd overheard that phrase he'd ended up in a group home a few weeks later. He couldn't figure out what he had done this time, surely if it had been the fights this would happened earlier and he _had_been protecting his friends. Of course he hadn't protected them very well, Kurt had left the school for several months and Finn had gotten hurt badly - maybe that was the problem, he hadn't protected them well enough, though there wasn't much he could change about that now.

He had to figure out what could be wrong that he could fix. His science grade had dropped by a few points, maybe he needed to study more, or maybe they were worried that he wasn't staying in shape enough for football next year, or they thought he wasn't spending enough time with his girlfriend or the kids, or that he wasn't helping enough around the house. He had no idea what it could be that they thought was wrong, but he had to do something. He couldn't just sit back and wait to be sent away without trying to fix the problem. He didn't want to leave. He had too much to lose now, more then he had ever felt that he had to lose before.

He would just have to work on everything. He would have to spend a little more time studying and a little more time exercising and helping around the house. He would talk to Quinn for a little bit longer every day and hang out with the kids a little more. He wasn't sure when he would sleep, but he had experience functioning on very little sleep. He could do it again, he had to. He would start now. He'd get in an extra hour and a half of studying before he went to bed and then he would set his alarm for an hour earlier in the morning and make sure the house was completely clean. He would do everything he could think of and once he got into the new routine there would be no way they could find something wrong with him.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Well, here we go! This is one of the Very Important Chapter's, for reasons you will likely understand now. This is kind of "the beginning of the end" as it's leading into the last major story arc - but don't worry! I'm guesstimating that this will go to about 55 chapters and don't forget about the sequel!

I thought I should probably let you guys know that I do have a Tumblr page. I'm katyslittleobsessions - I occasionally post about the story and I _always_ make a post when I update. I'll be posting a few "promo pictures" for the sequel when it gets closer to the time for that, I've had a bit of fun in Photoshop.

_BlackKeys96_: Thank you so much! And yes, Sam will definitely miss Seth!

_Tessie_: Thank you! And I'm glad you like the family stuff, they'll be some more of that coming up!

_Becky_: I'm so happy you like this! And don't worry, they'll know soon. Thank you for the review!

On one final note, this story passed 200 reviews with the last chapter and I just ... wow. I'm not even sure what to say except **_thank you all so much_**! It makes me so happy to know that people really like this!


	36. Chapter Thirty Five

Sam was up before his alarm even went off. Between his racing mind and the nightmares he'd had when he finally managed to dose off, he didn't think he had gotten more then an hour's worth of sleep. He quickly made his bed and went to get ready for the day before he set about doing the first load of laundry. Once he had straightened up around the house he headed into the kitchen, determined to have it sparkling by the time he was done. If he had time once the kitchen was done, he would move onto the living room before he made breakfast and then he would be the one to help Aiden get ready and make sure Ellie had everything together so Jessica only had to help Anna. He had everything planned out. He was going to impress them so much that they would never think of sending him away or he would die trying.

By the time that his foster mother came in the kitchen looked like new, the living room had been dusted, breakfast was ready and Sam already had a cup of coffee ready for her. She gave him a bit of a strange look before she once again reminded him that he didn't have to do all this. Sam gave his usual response that he didn't mind and tried not to think too much about why she always said that, it just didn't make sense. He headed off to wake the children up for Jessica before heading straight back into the kitchen to make the kid's plates. He didn't eat anything.

* * *

Sam was determined not to let anything distract him from working out that morning. He was good at multitasking, he would just have to hope that Finn didn't take offense at not having his full attention.

"Burt insisted on being involved in what the school decided this weekend, so we know what's gonna happen now," his best friend said by way of greeting.

"What are they going to do?" Sam asked.

"Well, he said Coach Sylvester was pretty much wanting to turn the school into some kind of military school and Principal Figgin's didn't really want to do anything," Finn began.

"That was pretty much what we had figured."

"Coach Sylvester ... kinda had a fit. Then they found out how many parents had threatened to sue the school - apparently Rachel's parents were responsible for that - and they actually had to be do something."

"And?"

"No more slushies, 'verbal bullying' gets a detention if they're caught and any 'physical bullying' gets a weeks detention the first time and a suspension the second time. It's pretty much exactly what we were hoping for!" Finn said excitedly.

"So everyone's safe now?" Sam asked, hoping against hope that this was at least one problem he could cross of the list.

"Looks like it." his friend replied with a grin.

* * *

Sure enough, an emergency assembly was called in the middle of first period. The entire school was crowded into the gym to be told about the new anti-bullying policy and the changes that were happening. If looks could kill, Sam was fairly certain that the entire glee club would be dead, but they had gotten enough grateful looks from the other students who had been bullied to balance it out. None of them thought that this would be a magic fix that would suddenly turn the school into the most wonderful place in the world. They knew there would still be plenty of people who didn't like them and quite a few who would be more then willing to risk letting them know that with words, but they would be safe now.

Sam tried to relax a little bit, but with what he had overheard the night before, he couldn't. His friend's would be safe now, the only real danger in the school should be if someone made Coach Sylvester a little bit too mad, but if he didn't fix things he didn't know how long he would have to enjoy it with them. At least they had Kurt back now, if he had to leave it wouldn't keep his friends from being able to go to New York. It might be selfish, but that wasn't very much comfort, he wanted to go with them. He wanted to stay here where he was safe, he had foster siblings he really cared about and he had friends - he had the dysfunctional, chaotic version of a family that was New Directions. He didn't want to lose that family, it was the only one he had. If they were considering sending him away, he couldn't really count the Turners.

* * *

"Hey, are you ok?" his girlfriend asked as soon as he sat next to her.

"I'm fine," he lied with a shrug as he pushed back the guilt.

Quinn gave him a look that clearly indicated she could see right through him, "How is everyone doing?"

"Ok. Everyone has been a little quiet and sad. We miss him, but he did call Saturday, so hopefully we'll be able to keep hearing from him."

"I'm sure you will. It'll all be ok, Sam."

"Thanks. How was your weekend?"

"It was good, I spent some time with my mom and my sister called. She's been doing really well. I was worried about you though."

"You don't have to worry about me." Sam said, embarrassed.

"You're my boyfriend, I love you. It's in the job description." she replied back with a smile.

"Well, I'm glad you had a good weekend. And I'm glad things should get better around here now." he commented.

"Me too." she replied, "Sam, are you sure you're ok. You look tired." she added after a moment.

"I just didn't sleep too well, I'll be fine." he insisted.

The couple kept up small talk through the rest of their lunch period. They debated back and forth over who would want to do a duet and who would want a solo at the concert. Once they ran out of combinations, they tried to brainstorm ideas for getting people to actually come to the concert. They both agreed that the attention brought to their choir from what they had done at the assembly could only help them. It would be a lot easier to get people to come if they already knew who they were and especially as people were inclined to feel bad for them. Finn and Kurt had been rather embarrassed and more then a little bit baffled at the amount of sympathy they had gotten after Sue played up what had happened to them on her news show. They decided that they would deal with a bit of pity if it helped them get to Nationals. Sam hoped that he'd kept the conversation going enough that she hadn't noticed the fact that he didn't eat.

* * *

He made a point to spend time with the kids as soon as he got back. He let Aiden drag him over to help with an art project that Anna ended up helping with as well and he waited until they finished before heading off to do his own homework. He managed to get almost all of it done before it was time for him to practice for Glee and he decided to invite his foster siblings to come out and join him while he practiced. After nearly an hour, he corralled them all inside and started to help them with their homework. He switched back and forth between all three of them, helping them with anything they didn't understand and they were all nearly half done when it was time for supper.

He ate enough to satisfy his foster parents before he called Quinn and ended up talking to her until it was almost time to put Aiden into bed. He made sure that his youngest foster sibling got into his pajama's and brushed his teeth before going through the usual routine of letting the little boy pick out a book for Sam to read to him. Once he finished the book, he quickly headed off to finish his own homework and spend a little over half an hour studying. By the time he was done he felt like he was already about to collapse, but he pushed himself to work out for three hours before taking a shower and nearly falling asleep standing up. It was one in the morning by the time he got into bed. His alarm would go off at four forty-five.

* * *

**Author's Note**: So, here we have the beginning of Sam starting to fall apart. I hope you guys liked this chapter! This is a little bit earlier then I've been updating but you guys gave me _eleven_ reviews for that last chapter and I figured since you had me about ready to start happy dancing around my room, since I had the next chapter written, I should go ahead and post it for you!

_BlackKeys96_: Overdrive is certainly one way to put it! I'm very glad you liked the chapter, thank you for the review!

_Tessie_: You just may be right about that. Thank you!

_Kerri_: Oh, I'm so happy that you like this story! I hope you continue to like it! Thank you for the review!

_Emma_: Oh, wow! This makes me so happy! Sam's my favorite character too, which is why this little universe is continuing when this story is over - that way, in my head, Sam never left. I should probably let you know that DO use spell check quite a bit though, I'm not naturally a perfect speller. Thank you for the review!


	37. Chapter Thirty Six

By Wednesday Sam was fairly certain that he had never been so tired in his life. It would be so much easier if he knew what exactly had upset his foster parents, but since they hadn't said anything to him he couldn't bring it up. He couldn't tell them that he had been eavesdropping, even if it had been accidently, he knew that they would send him away for sure if he told them that. His only option was to try and improve on everything. He was getting less sleep then he had gotten when he was playing football - a lot less. Life would be so much easier if he could figure out how to add more hours to the day.

He was fairly certain he hadn't missed any questions on the two tests he had in the past few days, even if the extra studying to make that possible had meant even less sleep. The house was just about cleaner then he had ever seen it, which was saying something as it had never been very messy. Ellie, Anna and Aiden had been happy to spend more time with him and Quinn had seemed pleased with the longer phone conversations. He thought he was looking a little better too and that was good, he needed to be stronger. Everything seemed to be working, but he was just so tired.

* * *

"Kurt and Rachel have gone crazy!" Finn announced as he walked into the weight room.

"What did they do?" Sam asked as he continued his work out.

"They want to start practicing for the concert now - it's a month away! And it's not even a competition, it's just a concert!"

"It can't hurt to practice, I mean, we do want to impress the people who come so they'll donate more, right?"

"But it's a month away!"

"I know, but maybe you should just humor them. Making your girlfriend and your brother mad at the same time can't end well."

"You're right." Finn said with a sigh after a moment of silence.

Sam nodded and continued with what he had been doing, not noticing the slightly worried look on his best friend's face as he watched him.

"Dude, you look crazy tired. Maybe you should stop," Finn commented.

"I'm fine," Sam insisted.

"You're always working out though and it's not even football season anymore. Maybe you should just take a break?" the other boy suggested carefully.

"I said I'm fine, Finn," Sam snapped.

"Woah, sorry, dude. I wasn't trying to upset you." the taller teenager said with slightly widened eyes.

"I'm sorry. I've just been ... stressed. But I'm fine. You can stop worrying." Sam said firmly.

* * *

"Hey there." Quinn said with a grin as Sam came to sit next to her.

"Hey. How's your day been so far?" Sam asked.

"Pretty good, how about you?" she responded.

"Ok." he said with a shrug as he pushed his food around his plate.

"Are you sure?" his girlfriend asked softly.

"I'm sure."

"You're not eating. I haven't seen you eat all week. I know you're upset, but you have to eat, Sam."

"I'm fine. I'm just not hungry." he said defensively. He was fine. As fine as he could be at the moment. He was just doing what he had to do and there was nothing she could do to help, so there was no point in worrying her.

"You don't seem fine, you seem like there's something wrong. You aren't eating, you look exhausted and you seem even more stressed out then you usually do. I'm not trying to pry, Sam. I'm just worried about you. You know you can talk to me, right?" she replied with worry clear in her eyes.

"I know. There isn't anything you can do though, it's just typical foster kid stuff. I'll be ok." he told her as he gave a shaky smile.

"Ok." she said, deciding to drop the subject for the moment.

They spent the rest of the lunch period discussing the latest antics of Coach Sylvester and the most recent and craziest rumors on Jacob's blog. Quinn tried to pretend that she didn't notice the fact that her boyfriend still wasn't eating.

* * *

Sam spent most of the last class before Glee trying his hardest to focus on his work and ignore the fact that he was cold, tired and starting to get a bit lightheaded. He couldn't afford distractions right now. He mentally snorted at the irony of the fact that he was causing the distractions himself by trying to fix everything else. He was beginning to realize that it was kind of a vicious cycle, but he didn't see any other way. He couldn't leave, not now. Things had finally been going well, better then he ever remembered. He couldn't lose Ellie, Anna, Aiden and his friends. He couldn't lose Quinn.

On top of that, he didn't have a clue where he would end up if they did move him. Logically, he knew that he would probably still be safe, but logic wasn't out weighing his panic. He didn't even want to think about ending up in another home like his last one, so naturally, he was thinking about it constantly. He didn't know if he could handle that again. He had everything to lose this time and he wasn't sure that he could lose it all and still come out intact.

* * *

He had been the first person to enter the choir room that afternoon, but Kurt had quickly come in behind him. Sam hadn't expected Kurt to come and start a conversation, but he did.

"You've done a lot for me, Sam. I don't just mean what you did with Karofsky, you and Puck saved Finn and what we did at the assembly was your idea. I don't know if I can thank you enough for that. I just want you to know that if there's ever anything you need, even if you just need someone to talk to, you can come to me. I'm fairly certain that I owe you a lot more then that at this point." the smaller boy said.

"You don't owe me anything, Kurt. I didn't do anything more then what most people should." Sam replied, embarrassed.

"Most people didn't - you did. That's what matters." the other boy responded

"I really don't think it was that big deal." the blond boy softly.

"It was to me and to Finn and to all the others." Kurt said firmly. "Look, Sam ... I've done my fair share of falling apart and I hope you don't take offense, but you seem to be falling apart. I just want you to know that if there's anything I can do to help, I want to do it. Friends are there for each other, you don't have to be the hero all the time." he finished before walking off as the others began to trickle into the room.

* * *

"Sammy! Come here!" Aiden said as soon as they got home.

Aiden had thoroughly enjoyed the extra time Sam had been spending with him the past few days and obviously already had something planned that he wanted to do. Sam found himself being dragged over towards a puzzle that Aiden had clearly attempted to put together on his own without much luck.

"Can you help me, Sammy? Please?" the little boy had asked and Sam had instantly sat down to help.

The puzzle that Aiden had chosen was very large and even with Anna and Ellie coming to help it had taken nearly half an hour to finish. Sam likely could have finished faster on his own, but he wanted the younger children to be able to figure out parts of it by themselves. He headed to his room to do his homework once the puzzle was finished and managed to get all of his homework done before it was time to practice for Glee. He once again allowed the children to follow him out and sing along as he practiced. When his foster mother called them in for dinner he was surprised to find that he had managed to forget about everything he was trying to deal with and simply have fun for a little while.

He did a good bit of his usual lunch pass time of pushing his food around his plate during dinner and had insisted that he just wasn't very hungry when he didn't finish. He didn't notice the looks that his foster parents sent each other as he left the room to help the children with their homework. He went through his usual routine of going back and forth between the children depending on who needed help with what along with Phil. Once his foster siblings had finished and put their things away he began to try and help them straighten up their rooms.

"No, it's ok, Sam, just help Aiden. Anna and I can do this ourselves. You look tired," Ellie had said.

Sam had once again insisted he was fine before went to help Aiden. He had never known the girls to turn down help cleaning and he didn't understand why they had now. He pushed it out of his mind as he went through the rest of his routine. He had winced a bit when he looked in the mirror after his shower and realized how exhausted he really did look, but there wasn't anything he could do about it. He was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, knowing he would have to be up again in a little over four hours.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I hope you guys like this chapter! Beta'd or not, I'm going to be updating about twice a week for a bit and simply replacing the chapters once I get the beta'd version in. I know that this a bit of a tense time in the story, so I don't want to keep you guys waiting very long!

_BlackKeys96_: Thank you for the review! Sam seems to have a bit of a talent for running himself into the ground, doesn't he?

_Tessie_: Thanks for reviewing! I'm so glad that you liked it!

_Emma_: I respond to every review unless the person has an account with private messaging turned off! It makes me to happy to get reviews that it would seem rude to me if I didn't reply! Thank you so much for your review, I can't tell you how happy it makes me that you like this!


	38. Chapter Thirty Seven

Sam wasn't even sure how to describe how exhausted he was. His hopes that no one else would noticed had been quickly dashed when Finn informed him that he looked like a zombie as soon as he saw him. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place, the last thing he needed was people noticing how exhausted and stressed he was, but he had to keep everything up. Something needed to give, but until he figured out what his foster parents had been upset about, nothing could. He was just going to have to keep juggling everything as best as he could.

He was desperately hoping that his foster parents would say something, mention being happy that something had improved so he could know what to focus on and what he could cut back on. He hadn't been able to come up with any idea of what it had been that he had done or not done. It would be so much easier to have one thing to focus on then trying to focus on everything. Even he was quickly realizing that trying to do everything at once obviously meant that something things would fall by the wayside. Like sleep.

At least it was Friday. On the weekend he could spend the time he usually spent in school cleaning, playing with the kids and studying and hopefully getting some more sleep. He would just have to make it through dinner with Quinn and then he could go home, work out and go to sleep. He could make up for anything he missed in the morning. He hoped that this could all come to an end soon, he hated to even think about "making it through" a date with his girlfriend. He loved Quinn but he was so tired that he wasn't sure how much he would be able to enjoy it.

* * *

"Sam?" Mike whispered as he sat down near his friend.

"Yeah?" Sam replied.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Just tired."

"You've been tired all week, I haven't said anything, because I don't want to pry ... but this is ten steps past tired. You look like you're two seconds away from falling asleep on your desk."

"It's just been a really long week."

"Alright... just get some sleep this weekend, ok?"

"That's the plan." Sam responded just as the teacher walked into the room. Mike looked like he wanted to say something more, but he didn't get the chance.

* * *

"Sam!" Brittany called.

"Hey Brittany." Sam said as he turned to see her rushing towards him down the hallway.

"I have a present for you." she announced, beaming as she held her hands behind her back.

"Thank you." Sam said after a slight pause as he tried to hide his confusion.

His confusion was only increased when she pulled a stuffed duck out from behind her back and shoved it excitedly into his hands.

"Do you like it?" she asked.

"I ... I love it. Thanks, Brittany." he replied.

"Oh, good. You looked sad and tired, so I thought you needed a stuffed animal. They always make me happy and sometimes if I can't sleep I cuddle with them and then I can! So now you can feel better!" she said with a smile before she threw her arms around him to hug him.

"That was very nice of you." he managed to say.

"You're nice and nice people shouldn't be so sad." she said simply before giving him another smile and walking off leaving a baffled Sam standing in the hallway and holding a stuffed duck.

* * *

Mr. Schue and Mike had spent the last half hour trying to teach the group a new dance routine. Trying was the appropriate word as Sam found himself unable to do any better then Finn. He wanted nothing more then to just curl into a ball in the corner and go to sleep and on top of the physical exhaustion, he could barely even remember the moves. He ran through the routine again for what had to be the fifteenth time but he didn't seem to be getting any better.

"Alright, one more time. You can do this Sam!" Mr. Schue said.

"Come on, this is crazy. I mean, no offense, but Sam looks like he's more likely to collapse then get the routine right today. I think we'd all be better served if we just sent him for a nap." Puck declared in frustration while trying to mask his slight worry for his friend.

"You ok, Sam?" the teacher asked as though he'd only just noticed how exhausted the teenager appeared.

"I'm just tired." the blond boy insisted.

"Ok. I think it might be best for all of us if we just continued this on Monday. Let's just go back to the singing." Mr. Schue announced, "From the top!"

* * *

They had only just sat down at their usual table when Quinn spoke up.

"How are the kids doing?" she asked.

"They're ok." Sam said with a smile, "Seth called again last night,"

"Oh, good! How is he?"

"He seems ok. He likes the new house and his new school, he says everything's going pretty well."

"That's good. I was worried about him and I know you were."

"Yeah. I miss him, but I'm glad we can still hear from him. I was afraid we wouldn't be able too."

"I'm glad it's all worked out."

"Me too." Sam said softly.

There was a temporary distraction when the waitress came and took their orders and once she left, Quinn was once again the first speak.

"Mercedes says that Kurt and Rachel have the 'Original Six' practicing for the concert already," she said with a smile.

"Yeah, Finn was complaining about it the other day. I told him was probably best to go along with it and not risk having them both upset with him at once," he responded.

"Very true." Quinn replied with laugh.

They kept the small talk up for the next several minutes. Quinn discussed the latest cheerleading routines and her latest conversation with her sister and Sam told Quinn about all the cute things his foster siblings had done recently. Quinn was trying her hardest not to bring up how worried she was about Sam lately, and Sam was happily helping her with that by talking about anything and everything else. It wasn't that he didn't trust Quinn, but there wasn't anything that she could do and he didn't want her to worry. He had to handle it by himself.

Things became slightly tense once the food arrived and Quinn noticed that Sam was barely eating. Sam could tell that she was worried, but he couldn't bring himself to eat much more. He didn't want to have to add to his workout with how much he already had to do and if he was going to stay in shape and get stronger he couldn't be eating too much. It was more important then ever that he was stronger. He hadn't been strong enough to protect himself or his friends. He had been to weak and he couldn't stay that way. He had to get stronger and better. He had to.

By the time she was nearly done with her food, Quinn couldn't stay quiet anymore.

"Sam, please tell me what's wrong," she said.

"I told you, it's just normal foster kid stuff. There isn't anything you can do about, so there's no need to worry. I'll be fine." he insisted with a smile, laying a comforting hand on her arm.

"I can't help but worry, Sam. You've been so stressed out, you look exhausted and you're barely eating." she explained, fighting back tears.

"No, no. Don't cry, Quinn, please. I'll be ok. It'll all work out. I've just been busy making sure that it does." he said with a mild note of panic in his voice.

"Why won't you tell me then?" she asked softly.

"Because there's no need for you to worry about something you can't fix." he replied gently.

"I'll worry anyway as long as it's upsetting you. I love you and I hate to see you so upset." she said in a shaky voice.

"I love you too. It'll all be fine. I promise." he said firmly as he smiled at her.

He hated to lie, but it was worth it if it made her feel better. After all, if it wasn't fine, he would lose her anyway.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Have you guys heard the news yet? SAM IS COMING BACK TO GLEE! It's all over Tumblr, I nearly had a heart attack when I first saw it! I'm still way, way, way beyond excited!

Anyway, I hope you guys liked this chapter! Everyone's really starting to pick up on the fact that something's very wrong now.

_BlackKeys96_: I'm so glad you liked the chapter! Sam is realizing that people are noticing, but he's trying his best to brush it off and make them stop. Thank you for the review!

_Tessie_: Thank you so much! And yes, he's starting to worry them all!

_Emma_: I'm so glad you're still liking this! It's actually not really any easier for me to reply to a "signed review". It might be easier for you though - I can reply quicker and it's easier for me to answer questions or discuss aspects of the story. You'll find out how it happens very, very soon - it's already written. Thank you for the review(s)!

_Kerri_: Oh, wow! Thank you so much! YOU rock!


	39. Chapter Thirty Eight

Sam had managed to get to sleep earlier then usual the night before by skipping everything but his workout before going to bed. He had a lot to make up for, but at least he had slept and could function a little better. He found it a combination of amazing and annoying how tired he still was when he got up shortly after eight. He couldn't risk sleeping any later though, he needed to cook quickly before his foster parents got up. As long as he had the food ready in time, he could carefully arrange things to look like he had already eaten. He pushed the nagging thought that if it was really ok to do this, he wouldn't need to hide it to the back of his mind. He didn't have a choice.

Once the food was ready he carefully stuck a serving spoon in the large bowl of scrambled eggs and arranged them to look like some had already been removed. He then stuck a knife in the butter for a second before carefully laying back on top of the container that sat next to the plate of toast. When he heard his foster parents' bedroom door open he casually walked to the sink with a plate and began rinsing it off. Jessica walked into the kitchen and shot him a curious look before she began to make herself a cup of coffee. He could have kicked himself for forgetting to do that for her.

He quickly exchanged good morning's with Jessica before heading into the living room to straighten it up on the way to do laundry. By the time he had the washing machine going, the children were up and he rushed back into the kitchen to help make their plates. He allowed himself to sit and talk with his foster siblings while they ate and he couldn't help but miss Seth's usual chatter. It wasn't very long before the other children woke up enough to nearly make up for the nine year old's early morning babbling, but Sam still found himself wishing even more that Seth would call again soon.

Sam spent the rest of the morning cleaning around the house and then catching up on his homework and studying. When lunch time came around he insisted that he really wasn't hungry and continued studying until the children were done eating, then he took them out to practice for glee club with them. He ran through the performance numbers he had done before allowing his foster siblings to suggest other songs he could play on his guitar. He allowed himself to spend much of the afternoon singing and laughing with his foster siblings. Spending more time with them was on his list of things to do better with anyway.

Sam decided to get a head start on his workout before dinner and managed to get through two of the three hours he was requiring of himself. He made it through dinner by once again eating as little as he could manage to get away with, which was a good bit more then he would have liked considering that his foster parents knew he had skipped lunch as well. Once the slightly awkward dinner was over with, he insisted on doing the dishes only to have Jessica insist on helping him. He was beginning to think that what ever the problem they had with him was, it most likely wasn't that he hadn't helped around the house enough. He'd give it a little bit longer to be sure, but hopefully that would be something he could soon cross of his list.

When the kids headed outside to play, Sam went back to his room to finish his workout early. He was hoping to be able to get to bed early that night as well and catch up on sleep before he went back to the craziness his weekdays had become. For the moment, he was simply focusing on his workout. He had to get stronger. He had to make sure that he could protect his friends, himself and if it ever came down to it again, his foster siblings. He couldn't let someone get hurt because he wasn't strong enough to help them again.

Once Sam had finished his workout, he left his room to get a glass of water. He hadn't expected his foster parents to be talking in the living room again.

"I don't know what to do about Sam, it's only getting worse." he heard his foster mother saying.

Sam did his best to muffle his gasp as he leaned against the wall in shock. He couldn't figure out what he had missed and he was ready to cry at the thought that he hadn't been able to fix things. He was going to be sent away now, he knew it.

"I know. I can't figure out why he's doing this either." was the tired sounding reply from Phil.

"He's just ... too perfect. There's got to be something wrong, Phil." Jessica responded, sounding as though she was near tears.

Sam froze, all thoughts of getting something to drink were pushed to the back of his mind as he stood in shock. Too perfect? What did that even mean? How could someone be too perfect? He didn't know how long it was before he was able make himself head back into his room, but once he did he collapsed onto his bed, still trying to make sense of what he had heard. He just couldn't understand it.

He had put so much work into being the perfect teenage boy, into being the son - or foster son, in his case - that anyone would want and now he was being told that it wasn't what they wanted. If that wasn't what they wanted, he had no idea what they did want. His whole life for the past eight months had centered around being the perfect teenager, if he wasn't supposed to be that then what _was_ he supposed be? What did they want from him? What was he supposed to do?

What was 'too perfect', anyway? He had no way of knowing what they thought was too much and what they would be upset if he stopped working so hard at. Just like before, he couldn't ask, because he wasn't supposed to hear it in the first place. How could he fix something when he couldn't even figure out a starting point? He didn't know what would fix things and what could get him sent away. His whole world was falling apart again and he had no way to fix it.

Sam realized that he was about to hyperventilate and had to quickly shift his focus to calming his breathing down. Once he did, he sighed and leaned back into the wall his bed was pushed against. He couldn't figure this out, no magic solution was coming to mind. He needed more time to think it through. He needed time to figure out what was that his foster parents wanted. He didn't know how long he had sat there before an idea came to mind. If he was 'too perfect', then he had to be due a sick day.

* * *

By the time that Sunday morning came around, Sam hadn't slept at all. He had laid awake doing his best to fight off a panic attack for most of the night. A quick glance in the mirror before he headed into the living room told him that Jessica wasn't likely to need much convincing. He had only been in the room for a few minutes when his foster mother walked in.

"Sam, are you alright?" she asked as soon as she spotted him.

"I'm just not feeling too great. I hope it's ok that I didn't cook - I just thought you might not want me to incase I made anyone else sick." he said quickly.

"Oh, Sam. How many times have I told you that you don't have to cook? You certainly don't have to cook if you're sick! Can I get you anything?" she asked, looking concerned.

He felt guilty for lying, but he didn't feel like he had another option.

"No, I'm fine. I got myself a glass of juice and I'm really not hungry." he replied.

"Ok, why don't you get back in bed then. Maybe you'll feel better if you can get some more sleep?" his foster mother suggested, "Call me if you need anything, Sam!"

"Alright. Thank you!" Sam told her before he headed back to his room to spend the day trying to find the answer to what seemed to be an impossible question.

* * *

It was nearly nine at night as Sam laid in bed, frustrated that he had yet to figure out what they wanted and feeling nearly crushing guilt for lying. It hadn't made things any easier that various members of his foster family had checked on him about three times an hour all day. He felt horrible that he hadn't told the truth and all he had been able to figure out was that they didn't seem to want him to cook and clean quite so much, but he had no clue where the line was. What did they consider too much and what would they consider not enough? What was the balance and how on earth did he figure it out when he couldn't even ask? It was a perfect 'rock and a hard place' scenario. He had no way of knowing what would make them happy and what could get him sent away. His life was hinging on a guessing game.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I hope you guys liked this one!

_BlackKeys96: _As far as I can tell, yes, it's true! I'm so glad that you liked the chapter! Thank you for the review!

_Tessie_: Don't worry, the next chapter is a big one and you may get your wish. I'm so happy that you liked it, thanks for the review!


	40. Chapter Thirty Nine

By the time it was time for Sam to get up Monday morning, he still wasn't sure if he'd managed to sleep at all. If he had dosed off, it hadn't been for long which meant he was effectively running on fumes after two days of no sleep. The only thing he knew was that he couldn't miss school. He also knew that when Finn inevitably compared him to a zombie again, he might just have to agree - he felt like one too. He didn't know what to do except to robotically make his way through his normal routine. He was out of options, his life was completely out of his hands and he was barely functioning through a constant state of panic.

He went through the practiced motions of making breakfast while barely even thinking about what he was doing. He plastered a fake smile on his face and insisted to his foster mother that he was fine, he felt much better, he was only a little tired and he really didn't want to miss school. It took nearly ten minutes to convince her. He continued his act for the rest of the morning, going through all the motions and keeping his panic to internal hysteria. He didn't think he could take losing the life he had now and he didn't see any way to stop it.

He spent the car ride to school barely even registering the conversations of his foster siblings as his thoughts raced. What would he do now? Would Quinn stay with him even if he wasn't at McKinley anymore? Would he even be allowed to date where went? Would he be able to call and talk to Ellie, Anna and Aiden like Seth did? Would Jessica and Phil even want him too? Would he be in another foster home, or would he get sent back to a group home? He felt as if he didn't have control over anything anymore, everything important to him was slipping out of his fingers and he couldn't stop it.

* * *

Sam's vocabulary for the school day so far had consisted nearly entirely of two words: "I'm fine". Part of him registered the increasingly worried looks of his friends, but he couldn't snap himself out it long enough to do anything else to reassure them. He was going to lose everything and no matter how many ideas popped into his head, nothing seemed like it would work. He had no way of figuring out what they thought was 'too perfect' and what they would be upset if he stopped doing. He couldn't fix it when he didn't know what to fix. His life was just a ticking time bomb now. It could all blow up at any moment.

He just wished they would have told him. If they would just let him know what he was doing wrong, he would fix it. Anything to stay. Anything. He had just started to think that maybe this could have been his last move. Obviously, he never should have gotten his hopes up. He headed mechanically to the lunch room, picked up a tray of food he knew he wouldn't eat and then sat next to the one person who could snap him out of his daze.

"Sam, please tell me what's wrong," his girlfriend pleaded as soon as he sat down.

"I'm fine," he said automatically.

"No. You're very clearly _not_ fine, Sam. You've got everyone worried. Every time I ran into one of our friends today they were asking me what's wrong with you and I had to tell them I don't know because you won't tell me!" Quinn said, clearly very upset.

"Why are they all so worried about me?" Sam asked.

"Why are they worried? Sam, you look exhausted, you haven't been eating and that's been going on for a while. Something's been upsetting you, we could tell and now you've been walking around all day like you aren't even really there. You're our friend. You're my boyfriend. We're worried because we care about you. I love you, Sam and you're scaring me. Please tell me what's wrong," she explained, nearly in tears.

"Please don't cry, Quinn, please!" Sam said, putting a hand on her arm, "I'll tell you I promise. Just please not here." he said softly and desperately.

"You promise that you'll tell me as soon as we can be alone?" she asked, wiping her eyes.

"I promise," he said firmly.

There wasn't much conversation during the rest of the lunch period, neither very sure what to say until they could get everything out in the open. They attempted small talk mostly so they could pretend not to notice that Quinn was the one picking at her food this time and Sam hadn't eaten a single bite.

* * *

He had barely made it through the rest of the day. He paid a little more attention to the worried looks and comments from his friends, but he still didn't know what to say. He had barely been able to keep his eyes open during class and he'd had to stop himself from nodding off more then once. He was still panicking, he was tired, cold and he was beginning to wonder if he really was getting sick. By the time glee club started, he was more then a little bit miserable.

"Come on, Sam!" Mr. Schue was saying, sounding exactly the same as he had on Friday, "I know you can get this."

Sam knew he could too, on a normal day. Today was anything but normal. He wasn't going to give up. He didn't want to disappoint his friends and his teacher on top of everything else. He kept dancing. When his vision started to fade out, he only had time to briefly acknowledge that he really should have agreed when Quinn told Mr. Schue he needed to rest before everything went black.

* * *

Chaos was much to mild a word to describe the reactions of the others in the room when Sam collapsed. He was nearly instantly surrounded by a circle of concerned friends and Santana surprised everyone by yelling at Mr. Schue for not letting him stop when there was clearly something wrong. Brittany had grabbed a coat, folded it and put it under Sam's head, worried that he would be uncomfortable. Artie was craning his neck, trying to see Sam and grumbling about hating his wheel chair when he couldn't quite manage it. Quinn was frantically trying to wake him along with several others.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, but was really only about a minute, Sam woke up.

"Sam." Quinn breathed in relief as his eyes opened.

"Dude, when was the last time you slept?" Puck asked.

"Friday night." Sam answered automatically, still half out of it.

A few people swore under their breaths as the groups eyes widened as one.

"When was the last time you ate?" Quinn added as things seemed to click into place for her.

"Dinner Saturday." he said in nearly the same automatic voice as before, still unsure of what had just happened and barely paying attention to what he was saying.

There was more swearing before Mercedes picked up where Quinn left off, "And before that?" she asked.

"Um ... Friday night, with Quinn." he said as he tried to sit up, only to find himself pushed back down.

Brittany was going about creating a mound of everyone's coats against the wall and Puck and Finn seemed to follow her train of thought as they gently pulled Sam back a few feet until he was leaning against the coats.

Mike was digging through the back-pack he had brought in with him to glee, due to the fact that he had wanted to give the teacher a CD with a song suggestion on it. He triumphantly pulled out a granola bar and shoved it into Sam's hands.

"Eat." he said simply.

Mr. Schue suddenly appeared next to him and handed him a bottle of water, "Are you ok, Sam?" he asked.

Quinn cut Sam off before he could even answer, "You're not allowed to answer that question if you aren't going to tell the truth, Sam. He's obviously not ok." she said, directing the last part towards her teacher. "What happened, Sam?" she continued, turning back to her boyfriend.

Sam sighed and began to explain, feeling to awful to even care that the others were listening too, "I tried so hard to be perfect. I don't want to leave. I don't want to leave _you_. But I heard Jessica say there was something wrong with me and I knew they would send me away. That's what happened last time. I was scared, I don't want to leave! I have friends and I have Ellie and Anna and Aiden - and you. And I'm _safe_ here. I tried to be better ... but I didn't know what they wanted so I tried to be better at everything. But then I heard her say I was _too_ perfect and I don't understand. I don't know what they want. I don't know what to stop or what they still want me to do. They're going to send me away because I don't know what to fix!" Sam said, working himself more and more back into a panic until he was nearly hyperventilating.

Lauren shocked the group by pushing the others out of the way and putting herself in Sam's direct line of sight. She put a hand on his shoulder and ignored his flinch for the moment. "You have to calm down. I know you're upset, but you have to breathe, ok? Breathe slowly, come on." she said gently, continuing to calm him down until he was breathing normally.

Once Sam had calmed, she moved out of the way as if nothing unusual had happened. The others quickly resumed their positions as Quinn made sure to be closest to him.

"Sweetie, I'm sure it's a misunderstanding. I don't think they'll send you away. I know you're scared, I know you have a reason to be, but I really think they're just worried for you, like I've been." she said in a near whisper. Sam didn't seem to believe her.

Finn finally voiced the question they were all wondering, "What is he talking about?" he asked softly, looking at Quinn.

Quinn looked at Sam and they seemed to communicate silently, "Do you want me to tell them?" she asked for confirmation and after moment, he nodded.

"Sam's a foster child," she began, drawing the attention of everyone in the room, "He's been in a lot of homes since he was little. His last home was ... bad and he's been with the Turner family since the Summer. He was afraid they wouldn't keep him and he would have to move again, so he was trying to be 'perfect'. Apparently he heard his foster mother say something was wrong with him - I'm guessing that was last weekend," she said, looking to Sam. Once again, he only nodded. She tried to remember what Sam had said as he worked himself into such a panic so she couldn't continue her explanation.

"He thought they would send him away if he didn't fix it, so he tried to be better at everything. I think that's why he seemed so tired and stressed out last week. Then he heard her say that he was 'too perfect' ... I'm guessing on Saturday," she said with a questioning tone, getting another nod from Sam, who was blushing a bright red and still looking as though he likely couldn't stand on his own, "He got really worried then, because he didn't know what they meant by that or what they wanted him to do. Now he really thinks they're going to send him away. And he panicked." she finished, trying to gloss over details as much as she could while still making sense. It wasn't her story to tell, after all.

There was a stunned silence in the room.

"So the ducky didn't make it better?" Brittany asked, breaking the silence and causing the others to be even more confused.

"I loved the duck, Britt. I was just ... too upset for the duck to make it all better." Sam told her softly, seeming a bit more like himself now that he had eaten something and laid still for a few minutes.

"Can someone get the nurse?" Mr. Schue finally asked, causing Tina to quickly rush out of the room.

"I wish you'd told us before. Maybe we could have helped." Mercedes said softly, patting his arm the way Rachel was and Tina had been, trying to give some kind of comfort in the cramped little circle they had made.

"I was embarrassed." he said softly, looking down.

"We're a family, remember?" Rachel told him, "You didn't have anything to be embarrassed about and families should never have to keep secrets like that." she continued, smiling reassuringly.

"You don't have to play the hero all the time, you're allowed to need help too." Kurt added, referencing the conversation he had with Sam a few days ago.

Sam was beginning to wish he had let his friends in earlier, he had never expected them to react that way. Then again, if he had told them before, they might not have had to react quite the same way as they were.

"Could someone let me in!" Artie finally exclaimed, wheeling closer when people quickly moved aside, "I don't think they'll send you away either, but if anyone tries to take you away from us, they'll have to go through all of New Directions first." he said to his friend, speaking for the entire group.

Sam had to try very hard to fight back the tears in his eyes when the rest of the group instantly nodded in agreement.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Well, there you go! This is the point the story has been building to from the beginning, the chapter I had five hundred versions of in my head. I hope I picked the right one to actually write - I hope you guys liked it! The next chapter _should_ be up this weekend.

_BlackKeys96_: I'm so glad you liked it and I hope you like this one too! Thank you for the review!

_Tessie_: Sam realizes he was going a bit overboard now, but he still does totally get it. He'll learn! I'm glad you liked that chapter and I hope you liked this chapter too! Thanks for the review!

Also, to all of you: _250 reviews_ now? You guys are amazing! *virtual group hug*


	41. Chapter Forty

Sam tried to get up from his position on the floor leaning against the pile of coats that Brittany had made only to find himself instantly being gently pushed back down by the girls who were still surrounding him. He felt ridiculous and he was getting more and more embarrassed but it seemed like his friends weren't going to give in.

"Dude, you're not getting up yet. You freaked us out with that." Puck commented from where he was hovering nearby.

Sam sighed and gave up. He hadn't meant to scare his friends - that was the last thing he'd wanted. He only wanted to be able to stay with them and despite how convinced they were that he would be able to, he still wasn't. This wasn't the way that he had wanted them to find out. Part of him had been wanting to let them in more, but he hadn't wanted them to know quite so much and certainly not in this way. He had to admit that seeing them so accepting calmed him down a little bit though. Even after finding everything out, Brittany was still petting his hair while Quinn held his hand, Rachel and Mercedes occasionally patted his arm or leg comfortingly and the rest hovered.

"Rachel," Mr Schue said, turning to the person he thought he was most likely to be able to get to leave Sam for a moment, "Can you please go get Em- Mrs. Pillsbury-Howell?".

Rachel nodded and headed out of the room just as Tina came in with the nurse, who rushed over to join the group that was fussing over Sam, much to his continued embarrassment. When the nurse began to ask questions the others started to answer for him, telling her how he had collapsed and how long it had been since he had last slept and ate. As the realization of how much he had revealed hit him, he wanted to sink into the floor. He was ok with them knowing about him being in foster care now, he had been thinking about telling them that anyway but he had never intended for them to know the rest. He had never intended for anyone to know the rest.

They must think he was so weak. No wonder they were hovering so much, he had basically just told them that he wasn't capable of taking care of himself. He was supposed to be strong. He was supposed to be able to do everything anyone wanted him to. He was not supposed to faint in front of all his friends. He was so stupid. He could run on very little sleep, he could run on very little food, but how stupid did he have to be not to realize that he couldn't run on no sleep and no food? He was a weak _idiot_. They must all think that they had to take care of him, because he was clearly too stupid and weak to do it himself. He had ruined everything.

"Sam?" the nurse asked, causing him to quickly look at her and hope it was the first time she had said his name.

"Yes, ma'am." he said softly.

"What were you feeling like before you passed out?" she questioned gently.

"Just tired. I'm fine now, really." he insisted, once again trying to sit up and once again finding himself pushed back down, much to his annoyance.

"I'll be the judge of that. You have to eat and sleep, Sam. Your body can't just 'run on fumes' forever." the nurse told him.

"I know." he replied, blushing furiously as his mind ran a hundred miles a hour trying to come up with excuses. "I just don't really get hungry when I'm nervous and I didn't think. Obviously, that's not the best combination with insomnia, but I won't let it happen again. Mike gave me a granola bar earlier - thank you, by the way - and I ate that. I really feel much better now." he said firmly but apologetically.

Quinn looked doubtful at that but she continued to silently stand watch with the others while the nurse finished checking him over.

"Ok. I don't think there's anything else wrong, but I want you to eat something else and get some sleep when you get home, ok?" the nurse said.

"Yes, ma'am." Sam replied, blushing and finally sitting up.

Once he confirmed that no one was going to push him back down, he quickly got off of the floor and made his way over to a chair. Being a bit closer to their level made his hovering friends slightly less unnerving. Quinn sat next to him and put her arms around him in a hug.

"You scared me, Sam. Please don't do that again." she whispered.

"I'm so sorry. I never meant to scare you." he replied softly, still embarrassed and upset by the situation.

"I know. I just wish you'd learn that what hurts you hurts the people who care about you too." she told her boyfriend.

He didn't have time to think of a reply before Rachel walked in with Mrs. Pillsbury-Howell and his attention was quickly diverted to watching as Mr. Schue filled her in on the situation. He sighed. Now there was yet another person who would never think of him the same way again. He couldn't believe how much he had messed things up. He _knew_ that his friends would never think of him the same way again. Of course, unless they were right, he wouldn't really have to worry about that. His foster parents were sure to send him away now.

"Alright. I want you guys to stay here and behave until the bell rings ok? Sam and I are going to go back to Mrs. Pillsbury-Howell's office with her to wait for his foster parents." their teacher told the group.

Quinn kissed him on the cheek before he stood and headed for the door. He did his best to accept the worried looks and pats on the back from his friends without looking too embarrassed, but he didn't think he succeeded. As he headed towards the counselors office, he felt like he was walking to his doom.

* * *

"I'm so stupid." Quinn said, sinking back into a chair once her boyfriend was out of sight.

"What are you talking about?" Mercedes asked her friend.

"I knew something was wrong. I knew it and I kept putting off bringing it up and then when I did I let him put off talking about it. I knew he worried about having to leave and I should have realized it was something to do with that. I'm an awful girlfriend." she said, quickly wiping tears off her cheeks.

"If your a bad girlfriend, then we're all bad friends. You couldn't make him talk to you, Quinn. None of us could - Finn tried, I tried and I think that some of the others did as well." Kurt said in an attempt to comfort his friend.

"The important thing is that we know what's wrong with him now. Now that we know, we can help him." Rachel said, determined.

"I just hope he'll let us." Mike commented.

The group of friends spent the rest of the time until the bell rang comforting each other and trying to think of ways to help Sam. They were determined to show him that he wasn't alone.

* * *

"Sam, are you ok? What happened?" Jessica said as she rushed into the room.

Sam wanted nothing more then to sink into the floor. He was hoping against hope that the whole thing was just a horrible nightmare. This was it. When she found out she would send him away. He buried his face in his hands and didn't answer.

"Our neighbor is watching the younger ones and my husband is on his way. Please tell me what happened. You said he collapsed." Jessica pleaded, addressing the counselor this time.

"Yes, he collapsed during his glee club practice." Mrs. Pillsbury-Howell informed the woman.

"Why?" she asked, looking over at Sam who still had his head buried in his hands.

"Sam, do you want to explain?" Mr. Schue asked his student.

Sam raised his head just enough to reveal his violently blushing face and shake his head no before resuming his position and continuing to wish that he could simply disappear.

The teacher sighed and ran a hand through his hair as he tried to figure out how to explain things to the teenager's foster mother. He had just opened his mouth to begin when Phil rushed into the room.

"Is Sam ok? What's going on?" the man asked his wife before kneeling next to his foster son and fruitlessly trying to get the boy to look at him.

"He was just about to explain." Jessica said, causing her husband's attention to turn to Mr. Schue as well.

"We were running through a dance routine - I shouldn't have pushed him so hard. He usually picks them up quicker then that, I knew something was wrong I just didn't quite realize how wrong. He collapsed in the middle of the routine but his friends quickly woke him up." he began to explain.

"Why did he collapse?" Phil asked, pushing the other man to continue.

"He seemed to still be in a daze when he first woke up and ... he told his friends that he hadn't slept in two days or eaten since Saturday night. When they questioned him after that, he said that before that he last ate Friday night with his girlfriend. One of his friends gave him a granola bar, so he has eaten now." " the teacher explained, internally wincing at the situation.

"Why, Sam?" his foster mother asked looking worried and horrified as she laid a hand on his arm.

Sam flinched back and shook his head. "I'm sorry." he said softly and brokenly.

Phil looked back to Mr. Schue with his expression mirroring his wife's, silently asking the man if he knew anything more.

"It would be best if Sam explained." the teacher said awkwardly, hoping to prod his student into taking over. He sighed when Sam once again violently shook his head and he began to continue. "He explained some things when his girlfriend asked. He said he had been afraid you wouldn't keep him, so he was trying to be perfect. He overheard something last week and thought he wasn't doing enough so he started to work harder at it. Then, uh, he heard you say he was 'too perfect' this weekend and he didn't understand. He didn't know what you expected of him and he panicked. He thought you would send him away."

There was a moment of shocked silence and Sam couldn't contain his tears any longer. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I really tried. Please, I don't want to leave. I'm sorry." he begged.

"Oh, Sam." Jessica said, wrapping her arms around her foster son. "We're not going to send you away. We were worried about _you_, because we love _you_."

Phil quickly joined in, pulling both Sam and his wife into a hug. "We aren't giving you up that easily. You don't have to do anything to make us care about you, we already do." he explained gently.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I really hope that you guys like this chapter!

_BlackKeys96_: I'm glad you liked it! It's definitely good for Sam that his friends know, despite what he may think! Thank you for the review!

_Tessie_: I'm very happy that you liked the chapter! Thanks for the review!


	42. Chapter Forty One

Mr. Schue and Mrs. Pillsbury-Howell stood of to the side, feeling like they were intruding on an important family moment as Sam cried in the arms of his worried foster parents.

"I don't understand." Sam said shakily as he pulled away from the hug.

"What don't you understand, sweetie?" Jessica asked gently.

"You're really not going to send away?" he questioned, still not willing to trust it.

"No, Sam. You're stuck with us." Phil replied in an attempt to lighten to mood a bit.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked, confused.

His foster parents looked at each other, seeming to communicate without words before Jessica turned back to their foster son. "We want you to keep your room clean, unload the dishwasher once a day and fold a load of laundry for me once a day. I might occasionally ask you to help with something else but that's all. If I don't ask you to do it and it's not one of those three things, we don't expect you to do it, ok?" she said, getting a confused nod from Sam.

"You're very smart, Sam. For the most part, we don't expect less then a 'B', but if you're having trouble with something, I want you to come to me and let me help. As long as you're really doing your best, we aren't going to be upset. We don't want you causing any fights - I understand you've had to protect your friends in the past, and I'm proud of you for that, I just don't want you to cause any trouble. Do you understand?" Phil said, carefully trying to explain what they expected from the teenager.

Sam nodded again, trying to make sense of the situation. He had been so convinced that it was all over and he couldn't seem to comprehend that it wasn't.

"If you go out with your friends or your girlfriend, we want you to be home when we tell you do be. No drinking, no smoking, no drugs and you treat your girlfriend with respect. Just follow those rules and continue to be nice to the little ones. That's all we want from you, you don't have to do anything else. That's all. I'll make you a list when we get home and if there's ever anything else we would like from you, I'll add it to the list so you'll always know, ok? If it's not on the list, we don't expect it from you." his foster mother finished, smoothing down his hair in a comforting gesture.

Sam sat in shock. It was more then he had ever expected. Not only had they explained what they wanted from him, but it was so much less then he would have ever thought. He could do the things they had told him easily and even after everything they had just been told, they weren't going to send him away.

"I understand." he managed to choke out.

"We aren't going to send you away Sam. We promised you when you first came to live with us that we would never hurt you and we're promising you now that we will never send you away. If you break the rules, you'll be grounded or you'll lose a privilege, but you will never be sent away. Never." Jessica said, pulling Sam into another hug as he began to cry once again in relief.

* * *

"Phil, will you go pick up the kids and let them know that Sam's ok?" Jessica asked once they had gotten home.

"Of course, I'll be back in a few minutes." Phil replied, kissing his wife on the cheek and patting Sam on the shoulder.

"I know you're tired sweetie and you did have a granola bar, but could you eat a sandwich for me before you go to sleep?" she asked her foster son carefully.

Sam nodded and she quickly motioned for him to follow her to the kitchen. As she began to fix his sandwich something occurred to her that she hadn't thought of yet.

"You weren't sick this weekend, were you?" she asked.

"I'm sorry. I was upset and I just needed to time to think. I'm sorry." he said, afraid that he had made his foster angry mother already.

"Calm down, Sam. I understand, I'm not mad. I just wish you would have let us know that you were so upset." she told him as she handed him a plate.

"I'm sorry." he repeated.

"It's ok, you don't have to keep apologizing. But will you promise me that you'll come to us before you get so worked up if anything were to ever happen to upset you like that again?" she asked him.

"I promise." he said with a small smile.

* * *

Sam had fallen asleep as soon as his head had hit the pillow. He woke up to the sound of his door creaking open, having trained himself to sleep very lightly. It felt like he had only blinked, but a glance at the clock revealed that it was nearly time for dinner. He spotted a little blond head peaking in his door and motioned for Aiden to come over. He sleepily pushed himself into a sitting position and Aiden quickly came and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Do you feel better now, Sammy?" the little boy asked.

"What?" Sam asked, trying not to panic before finding out exactly what his foster siblings had been told.

"Jessica said you worried a lot and it made you sick so you needed to sleep. But she says you need to come eat dinner too. Are you still sick?" Aiden questioned curiously with a worried look on his little face.

He took a moment to figure out how exactly to answer the little boy and he decided that partial honesty was best.

"I'm just tired, I'll be ok." he told his foster brother.

"That's good. I don't like it when you're sick. You're like Superman! Superman's not 'posed to get sick." Aiden informed his older brother.

Sam had a sudden flashback to the things Kurt had been telling him. Maybe he had taken things a little overboard. Maybe he didn't have to be a hero. Maybe trying to be perfect wasn't exactly healthy, but he knew then and there that while he might know that he could stop the rest, he would never stop trying to be the perfect brother because hearing a little boy telling him he was like Superman was one of the best things he'd ever heard. He never wanted to stop being Aiden's Superman. And if he wasn't going to be sent away, then maybe, just maybe, he would never have to.

"Well, then. If I'm like Superman, I guess I need a sidekick." he said, before standing and picking Aiden up, making the little boy giggle as he held him out as if he were flying and headed for the dining room.

"Are you feeling a little better now, Sam?" Jessica asked, unknowingly echoing Aiden's question as Phil and the girls turned to look at Sam as well.

"Yeah, I'm still kinda tired though." Sam explained again.

Jessica nodded understandingly, "You can go back to bed after supper, but you need to eat." she said.

Sam nodded before joining the rest of his foster family at the table. He'd just have to work out more tomorrow.

* * *

Despite how tired he was, he couldn't quite manage to get to sleep when headed back to bed after eating. It had been a very long day and everything was finally catching up to him. He couldn't quite process it all. He still couldn't believe that he had lost it in front of his friends and he knew that things would be very awkward now, they would never see him the same now that they knew what they did. He couldn't bring himself to freak out over it as much as he had been earlier though. Maybe it was because of how well things had worked out with his foster parents. Maybe he was just too tired to panic anymore. Either way, at least he knew that he wouldn't have to leave.

Sure enough, just as he had been told, he had been handed a list after supper. It contained exactly what they had said it would and nothing more. That short list was really all that they wanted from him. It was amazing. They had promised that was all they expected and he somehow couldn't help but let himself except it. He was so sick of worrying, there was still the off chance that he might regret it later, but for now, he was pushing those thoughts away. He believed them. He believed that he wouldn't be sent away. They really wanted him.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Alright, I hope you guys liked this! I'm not ahead in writing anymore, but I'm still going to do my best to update quickly, on a similar schedule as I have been. Also, I edited Finn's statement in chapter thirty six that the concert would be in two months. I have no idea where I got that from. It's the middle of March in 'Perfect' now, that timeline would make no sense. The concert is in one month.

_BlackKeys96_: I'm so glad you liked it! I really enjoyed writing Jessica and Phil finally being able to comfort him. Thank you for the review!

_Emma_: Oh, I hope you can get back into your account! I'm very happy that you liked the chapter! Thanks for reviewing!

_Tessie_: I'm so glad you liked it! Here's your update and thanks for the review!


	43. Chapter Forty Two

The worried members of New Directions had quickly gathered at Kurt and Finn's house after school. The group seemed to arrive all at once, each of them hoping to come up with something they could do for Sam. Shortly afterwards, the Hummel-Hudson parents came home as well. After a quick explanation they found themselves being ushered into the rec room by Carole so they could think of something to cheer up their friend while Burt announced he would order pizza, much to the shock of the group.

"For them! Not me!" the man had quickly added at the looks both his son and wife had sent him.

"The shop's been doing well and ... I guess they're worried about Sam too?" Finn offered as an explanation to his step-father's generosity as they headed into the room.

"What should we do? We have to do something to help him." Tina said once the group had gotten settled.

"We should sing for him, that's what Glee Club is about!" Rachel insisted.

"Sing what? Haven't we already done all the typical 'we're there for you' songs?" Artie commented.

"There has to be something else that will work, we just have to think about it." Mercedes said.

The group began to discuss their options, tossing around various ideas before deciding that none of them would work. After several minutes, Quinn stopped participating in the conversation as the suggestions became more and more odd. She had an idea, but it would only work coming from her. Not only did it come from something that she was fairly certain she was the only who knew Sam liked, but she didn't think the song itself would work coming from the group - or at least most of the song wouldn't. She would let them come up with something to make a big presentation out of, and she would sing her song for Sam in private.

It wasn't until after the pizza had been both delivered and devoured that Finn suddenly froze. The others could almost see the light bulb above his head before he ran out of the room, calling for them to wait for a minute because he needed to look for something. The others looked at each other for a moment before Kurt took off after his brother. He headed for the living room and quietly watched as his brother excitedly looked through their movie collection before triumphantly grabbing one and holding it above his head, placing the movie back where it was and rushing out of the room. Kurt continued to follow his brother long enough to establish that he was heading for his computer and then went back to his friends.

"He just grabbed Toy Story and then headed for his computer looking much too happy. I'm pretty sure we can all guess what he's wanting to sing." Kurt announced.

* * *

The next morning, Sam spent several minutes staring at the ceiling before he got out of bed. He was trying to comprehend that he really wouldn't be sent away. They wanted him. Or at least, they could tolerate him. He wasn't sure anyone had ever really wanted him, except maybe his first foster family. Sometimes he wondered what his life would have been like if they hadn't had to move before his mother's parental rights had been revoked, if they had just been able to adopt him before they had to leave. He would have grown up in another country, but at least he would have had a family.

Sam quickly shoved that thought out of his head by reminding himself that he wouldn't have Quinn if that had happened and began to get ready for the day. He might not have a real family, but he did have people that seemed to like him well enough and who weren't going to send him away. He had a safe place to live for the next couple of years and he'd done some research, Ohio was actually pretty good at taking care of kids who aged out of the foster system, it was nothing like the generalized rumors he'd heard. He'd still try and get Summer jobs and save up some money, but things weren't as bad as he had feared.

He might not ever have parents, but he'd have a family of his own someday, maybe even with Quinn. His kids would never have to worry about being safe at home and they would never have to feel like no one wanted them. Someday he would have children of his own to give everything he never had. It wouldn't matter so much that he didn't have parents then. He hoped.

He was just about to head into the kitchen when he remembered what he did still have to worry about. His friends. His friends who knew a whole lot more then he wanted them too. He could still kick himself for saying so much the day before. He apparently had no filter when he was half out-of-it. His plan for the moment was to really hope that they hadn't understood or had forgotten about some of his rant and to do his best to pretend like nothing happened. Or to at least attempt to brush it off as not that big of a deal. He was 99.9% sure that wasn't going to work, but he wasn't sure what else to do.

Sam had only just stepped into the hallway when he realized he smelled food already. Once he stepped into the kitchen, his fears were confirmed. His foster mother was already cooking, there would be no way out of breakfast that morning. At least he had less on his plate now and the three hour long workout wouldn't cause as many issues. He would have to work on convincing her that he really did like cooking.

* * *

Sam hadn't been in the weight room for two minutes before _all_ of the glee guys walked in.

"Dude, are you sure you should be doing that?" Puck asked, sounding much too worried for Sam's taste.

He bit back a sigh. That was exactly why he had to be 'doing that', he was weak and now they all knew it. He couldn't be weak anymore. He had to be fit and strong, he couldn't risk getting fatter and weaker. He was pathetic and he knew it. He had to change that.

"I'm fine. I slept, I ate, I talked with my foster parents. I'm fine." he said without even getting out of the rhythm he had established.

"You scared us yesterday with that, I guess we're just still a little worried." Mike said quickly.

"I know, I'm sorry, but I'm really much better now. I know it was stupid and I won't do anything like that again." he insisted.

"So ... you did talk with your foster parents?" Kurt questioned gently.

"Yeah, we worked everything out. You guys were right. I overreacted." Sam replied hoping to put an end to the topic of conversation.

"Cool, I'm glad." Finn said with a grin.

"So do you guys have anymore ideas for the concert?" Sam asked, resigning himself to the fact that they weren't going to leave.

* * *

After making it through a morning filled with worried glances from his friends every time they saw him, which only succeeded in making him feel more and more pathetic, Sam was thrilled to have finally made it to lunch. He was a little surprised when Quinn stood up and hugged him before he even sat down with his tray, but he went along with it.

"I'm so glad your ok. Thank you for texting me last night, I would have been so worried if I hadn't known how things had gone." she said.

"They certainly went a whole lot better then I had expected. You guys were right." he said, blushing.

"I wish that you would tell me when things have you so upset, sometimes just having someone to talk to helps." she told her boyfriend.

"I know. I should have told you, I'm sorry." Sam replied.

"You don't have to be sorry. You were upset and nobody can think straight when they're that upset. I'm just glad you're ok." she said with a smile.

"Yeah, I'm fine now. Jessica had me eat so much that I'm not sure I can eat anything now, I'm still stuffed!" he said, glad for the excuse to skip lunch.

Quinn laughed before Sam continued, "I just wish everyone would stop looking so worried. Like I said, I'm fine."

"We know, it was just ... it was really scary, Sam, when you just collapsed. We didn't know what happened or what was wrong, we were so worried. Remember how worried we all were about Finn after he was attacked? Or how upset we were when we found out how bad things had gotten for Kurt and Tina? It was like that. I think a lot of us are just still worried because you were so upset. We care about you Sam, we all hate seeing you so sad." she told him.

Sam was quiet for a moment as he thought about what his girlfriend said. He felt some of his annoyance melt away at her words. His friends weren't thinking he was weak - or at least, that wasn't what they were trying to convey with the looks they were sending. They were worried just like he worried when something bad happened to one of them. That he thought he could deal with.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I am so, so, so sorry guys! I really meant to have this up earlier, but things just got a little crazy and last weekend was insanely busy. Then I got asked out on a date. My first date. It's tomorrow and I'm mildly freaking out, so I hope this is at least semi-decent. Hopefully it's good news for you guys too, maybe finally going on a date will actually give me ideas on how to better write Sam and Quinn on dates!

_BlackKeys96_: I'm glad you liked the chapter, and like I've said before, I'm addicted to happy endings! Thanks for reviewing!

_Tessie_: Oh, wow. Really? I'm so happy you liked and and thank you so much for the review!

_Emma_: Aw, I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Yes, I think the list will help Sam a lot. Thank you for reviewing!


	44. Chapter Forty Three

The rest of the day seemed to go a little better for Sam. Though he still hated that his friends knew as much as they did, after his conversation with Quinn he felt a little less like sinking into the floor whenever he was sent a worry-filled look. They weren't trying to imply that he was weak, even if they might be thinking it and if they were, he would just prove them wrong once he got stronger. He had been weak for long enough, he wasn't going to be weak any longer.

With everything else out of the way, it would be much easier to focus on getting stronger. Now that he didn't have to spread himself quite so thin, he could spend even more time working out if he needed too. Once he was able talk his foster mother into letting him cook breakfast again, things would be right on track. He would have to deal with a a few additional visits to his psychologist before things went back to normal, but growing up in foster care had long ago taught him how to tell the man exactly what he wanted to hear. He didn't like to lie, but he was fine now, he didn't need any help.

He did his best to insist that he really was okay every time his friends came up to check on him. Based on the way that many of them had looked like they wanted to say something more, he had a feeling that once Glee started and they didn't have to worry about be overheard, he was in for a conversation that he would rather avoid. He hoped that he would only have to once again reassure them that he was physically okay and that they hadn't picked up on anything else he had let slip.

* * *

Sam knew from the moment that he walked into the choir room that his best friend looked much too excited for his own good. Finn had the look of a loyal puppy who had just done something that they desperately hoped would make their owner happy. Sam had seen that look on his friend's face a few times and so he was trying to determine what that exactly it would mean for him. Mr. Shoue had only just shut the door to the room when Finn announced, nearly bouncing with excitement, that they had something they wanted to sing. When everyone else in the group stood to join Finn, Sam felt his face flush with embarrassment as he realized what they were going to do.

"So, dude, we know that you're ok now and stuff and everything's cool with your foster parents, but you were really upset yesterday and it's sounds like you've had things kinda rough. We wanted to show you that we're there for you, you're one of us now and you're not getting rid of us. So we decided to sing you something." Finn said, directing his speech at Sam who was torn between being touched and mildly panicking that his friends did seem to have picked up on more then he had hoped.

The moment the music started Sam had to fight not to laugh. Of course Finn would sing this. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that Finn had chosen the song. During one of the more random conversations he'd had with his best friend, Finn had told him that Toy Story had been his favorite Disney movie as a child. Though he rarely spoke about his childhood, in the moment, Sam had found himself revealing that it was his favorite as well.

_"You've got a friend in me _  
_You've got a friend in me" _

Mr. Shoue apparently found the song selection amusing as well, as the teacher let out a laugh as soon as the group sang the first line. Sam might be upset that they knew more then he wanted and he might be embarrassed that they were all singing to him, but as he watched his friends - most of whom seemed to be trying desperately not to laugh while still looking sincere - he couldn't help but smile.

_"When the road looks rough ahead _  
_And you're miles and miles _  
_From your nice warm bed _  
_You just remember what your old pal said _  
_Boy, you've got a friend in me" _

The group seemed to decide to embrace the cheesy factor of the song, several of them pointing to him with amused smiles as they sang.

_"Yeah, you've got a friend in me _  
_You've got a friend in me _  
_You've got a friend in me"_

Quinn caught his eye and sent him a look that he easily interpreted to mean 'See, I told you they really cared.'. He nodded at her, acknowledging that once again, she was right.

_"If you've got troubles, I've got 'em too _  
_There isn't anything I wouldn't do for you _  
_We stick together and can see it through" _

Finn stepped forward as he sang his solo lines, beaming at his best friend. Sam couldn't help but be touched, as he cheesy as the song might be, the lyrics were sweet and he could tell that his friends truly seemed to mean them.

_"Cause you've got a friend in me _  
_You've got a friend in me" _

The group joined in with Finn again, more of them pointing at him as they sang and he found himself wondering how he had ever doubted them.

_"Some other folks might be _  
_A little bit smarter than I am _  
_Bigger and stronger too _  
_Maybe" _

Sam finally lost the battle and found himself laughing as his friend sang his second solo part. The lines seemed to be pure Finn.

_"But none of them will ever love you _  
_The way I do, it's me and you" _

As the group joined back in, Finn suddenly pulled Sam up and towards the group who began passing him around for hugs as they did their best to finish the song through their laughter.

_"Boy, and as the years go by _  
_Our friendship will never die _  
_You're gonna see it's our destiny _  
_You've got a friend in me _  
_You've got a friend in me _  
_You've got a friend in me" _

Sam found himself fighting back tears as his friends ended the song by pulling him into a giant group hug. They might know more then he had wanted, and he might end up having to put up with a bit of smothering, but it was clear now that they truly meant well. In that moment, he felt more accepted then he ever remembered feeling in his life.

* * *

Once his friends had made a point of reassuring him multiple times that they were always there for him, Mr. Shoue had directed the class to the recent topic of conversation, the concert. After a few more song ideas got tossed around, they went back to running through old routines and trying to improve on them in hopes that by improving old routines, they could make their new ones better. When Mr. Shoue suddenly released the class several minutes early, Sam remembered seeing Quinn talking to the teacher earlier when he was too side-tracked by the others to hear what she was saying. He couldn't help but have a feeling that his girlfriend had something to do with it.

Sure enough, when he began to gather his things along with the others, Quinn shook her head and smirked knowingly. Once the others had left she pulled the door closed and smiled.

"They wanted to something special for you as your friends. As your girlfriend, I figured that I should too." she said before pulling him into a chair and sitting next to him, "I know that there's things you don't like to talk about, and I'm not going to make you talk. I just want you to understand that I'm always there for you and I don't want you to feel like you ever have to hide anything from me. I don't want you to feel alone anymore."

She kissed him on the cheek before pulling him into a hug, "Now don't laugh at me. I know you like this song." she whispered before she started to sing.

_"I've been alone _  
_Surrounded by darkness _  
_I've seen how heartless _  
_The world can be" _

He couldn't help but smile, she was the only one who knew he liked it and he knew that she meant the words she was singing. He might not have been there, but he knew her story, he knew what had happened the year before when parents had kicked her out for getting pregnant and he knew how hard it had been for her to give her daughter up.

_"I've seen you crying _  
_You felt like it's hopeless" _

It didn't matter how many times he had heard the song before, somehow with Quinn singing, all he could think about was how the words applied to them. His mind called up memories of that afternoon after Finn's attack when he had told her about his past.

_"I'll always do my best _  
_To make you see _  
_Baby, you're not alone _  
_Cause you're here with me _  
_And nothing's ever gonna bring us down _  
_Cause nothing can keep me from lovin' you _  
_And you know it's true _  
_It don't matter what'll come to be _  
_Our love is all we need to make it through" _

He found himself pulling her a little closer to him as she sang. She had chosen the song and she had made sure to sing it when there was no one else around. He finally felt like it was really possible that he wouldn't lose her. She trailed off and turned to kiss him again.

"You are not alone anymore, Sam. I'm going to be there for you just as much as you're there for me. I'm not going away. Ever." she said softly.

He pulled her back into a hug and they sat in comfortable silence until the bell rang.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I hope you guys like this! Thanks to my friend Heather (Average Everyday Sane Psycho) for coming up with the songs, I was rather stuck! I'm guestimating that there are around ten chapters left and my goal is to finish this by the stories one year anniversary. Once I'm finished, I'll take a short break to get a bit ahead on the sequel before posting that. There's going to be a good bit of time jumping now, as it's only mid-March in this universe and I need to get us to the end of May before the story ends.

For those of you who wondered about my date, it was ... _interesting_. Let's just say I don't think it's going to help me write dates any better. I'm gonna give him one more date to see if things get better ... but I'm not thinking he's 'the one'.

_BlackKeys96: _I'm glad you liked that chapter and I hope you liked how this one turned out too. Did you guess right on the group song? Thank you for reviewing!

_Tessie: _He does, but as I've mentioned before, I'm addicted to happy endings! I hope you liked this! Thanks for the review!

PS: If anyone has any songs that they would really like to see any of the Glee kids sing, let me know, it might give me some ideas for songs for the sequel or maybe an additional concert song or two. Also, for those who missed it, my Tumblr is katyslittleobsessions and I will mostly likely be posting some teaser graphics for the sequel there soon.


	45. Chapter Forty Four

By Saturday, Sam had finally convinced Jessica to let him go back to making breakfast, a fact which he was highly grateful for. He had eaten more then he had wanted to the night before on his date with Quinn, but he hadn't wanted to worry her. He was relieved that he wouldn't have to eat breakfast on top of that, especially since there would be no getting out of lunch. He planned to get a couple hours of extra exercise time in that day to make up for it. He had planned to have the food done before anyone else woke up so he could go back to his usual routine of pretending he had already eaten. He felt his heart sink when he heard a door open and someone walking in the hallway and he sighed in relief when little Aiden walked into the kitchen. Aiden, he could handle.

"Are you cooking, Sammy?" the little boy asked as soon as he spotted his foster brother.

"I am. Do you want to help?" Sam questioned with a smile.

"Yeah!" Aiden exclaimed hurrying over to Sam, "Can we make pancakes?"

Sam laughed at his foster brother's excitement, "Of course we can." he said as he quickly gathered the ingredients and sat them on the counter before picking up the little boy and sitting him next to the bowl so he could help.

He spent a few minutes measuring out ingredients for the little boy to pour into the bowl and mix up before setting the child back on the floor while he began to cook them. He managed to get halfway through the batter before Aiden asked if they could put chocolate chips in the rest. Sam had laughed before agreeing and letting the little boy help to mix them into the batter.

Once he had finished the pancakes, he wiped off the counter and set dishes in the sink before making a plate for Aiden. The child happily dug into the chocolate chip pancakes he had talked his foster brother into making.

He had only taken a few bites before he looked up at Sam, "Aren't you going to eat Sammy?" he asked.

"I don't think I will right now." Sam said quickly, hoping Aiden would turn back to making a mess out of his food and forget about the fact that Sam wasn't eating.

"But aren't you hungry?" Aiden asked again, sounding confused.

Sam bit back a sigh. This was going to be harder then he was hoping, "Not really." he responded.

"You need to eat, Sammy. Jessica says breakfast is 'portant." the little boy insisted, waving his fork at Sam as if he was lecturing him.

"All right, I'll get a pancake." the older boy said, reminding himself that he could just get in a little more exercise to make up for it.

He got a plate for himself and put a pancake on it, quickly taking a bite to appease the child.

"Just one?" Aiden asked curiously, not understanding how anyone could only eat one pancake.

"Just one. I ... I don't really like to eat, Aiden, okay?" Sam said.

"Oh. Okay." the little boy said, looking puzzled but shrugging it off as he continued to eat.

* * *

By the time Jessica came into the kitchen, Sam had Aiden on the counter and was trying his best to clean the chocolate and syrup off of the messy six year old. He had to assume that he hadn't heard her when she first walked in, because the first sign he had that she was in the room was a camera flash going off. He had turned to see his foster mother laughing before she put the camera down and came over to help. Once Aiden and the dishes were clean, Sam had headed into his room to try and get a couple hours of exercise in. He wanted to get his 'make up' exercising out of the way, he would do the rest that night as usual.

He got a quick shower once he finished his work out before he he decided to grab his guitar and take the kids outside. He knew he didn't have to practice as much as he had been, but it was something he enjoyed and he knew that the kids did as well. It was a way to spend time with them where they would all have fun. Sam decided that he would show them the old songs that New Directions had been going back over. He laughed and sang with his foster siblings until they were called in for lunch.

He once again ate as little as he could manage to get away with, but he couldn't help but enjoy himself. He decided that the sound of his foster siblings babbling through the meal was something he could never get tired off. Meals at his last foster home had been quick, silent and tense and he loved that here it was the exact opposite. He didn't have to worry about every move he made, he only had to worry about how much he ate.

The whole family had rushed to the phone when Seth had called just after lunch. The phone was quickly set to speaker as they all happily caught up with each other. Every time Seth called sounding so happy Sam felt a little more of a weight lift off of his shoulders. He still worried about the other boy, but Seth truly seemed to be doing well back with his mother. He couldn't help but smile when Seth once again asked when the concert was so he and his mother could come to see it.

* * *

Sam had shut himself in his room again to do his nightly exercise. That afternoon he'd had his first appointment with his psychologist addressing the 'issues' that led to him collapsing. He was fairly certain he had handled it correctly. He had let himself be upset enough not to cause suspicion, but not upset enough to end up having to spend even more time with the woman. After nine years in the foster system, he's thinks he got that act down pat.

A few more visits should satisfy the woman and then things should be normal. He was finally cooking breakfast before Jessica got up again so he didn't have to worry about eating it anymore, he could bluff his way through lunch for the most part even though he still felt horribly guilty for lying to Quinn and with the extra work out time, he was well on his way to getting stronger. The hovering his friends had been doing was tapering off a bit as well, so he was hoping that the whole incident could be put behind them soon.

Everyone had their concert songs picked out and practices were getting a lot more serious, they had less then two weeks before the concert now. He was going to be spending a few hours the next day handing out flyers advertising it with his friends. A lot of people had already promised to come, but they couldn't get to confident. They needed a full house to help them get to Nationals. Mr. Shoue already had them thinking about song selections for their performance there. They would have to get their routine as close to perfect as humanly possible if they wanted to win.

The closer they got, the more excited he found himself getting. He was really going to Nationals. He was really going to New York. Jessica had already signed up to help chaperone and she would be there to record their routine for the others on her trusty video camera. He had a feeling that once the concert was over Nationals would quickly become the main topic of conversation amongst his friends. They were all still thrilled that they were really going.

He still couldn't believe how lucky he was to have found his group of friends. For the first time in his life he had friends who swore that nothing would ever make them _stop_ being his friends and he was finally starting to believe them. It still seemed like a miracle that he had ended up in this club that called themselves a family and that they had really accepted him. He would be forever grateful for all of them. He knew that Nationals would be special not just for all the obvious reason and not just because it would be his first time leaving the state, but because he would be with his friends.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I hope this chapter was okay! I have a feeling that a lot of you haven't read the previous chapter yet (the one with the two songs) based on the hit count to it, so please do go back and read that one if you haven't, it was pretty important. Also, the song's I used in that chapter were 'You've Got A Friend In Me' from Toy Story and Darren Criss' 'Not Alone'. As I mentioned in the last chapter, there's going be a good bit of time skipping until the end of the story, starting with this chapter! There's only about ten chapters left, so I hope that you all will keep reading!

_BlackKeys96_: I'm so glad you liked it! I figured that the song would be fairly easy to guess. Thanks for the review!

_Tessie_: Aw, thanks! Cheesy and touching is a hard combination, but I'm glad you think I got it right! Thank you for reviewing!


	46. Chapter Forty Five

He should have known that telling Quinn every day that he'd had a big breakfast would only last so long. By the next Wednesday she had looked at him and told him that he needed to eat anyway because he was starting to worry her again. And so he had. The problem was that now it was dinner that he needed to get out of, at least for the most part. It was a lot harder to get Jessica to let him out of eating then it was Quinn. He was showing no signs of even beginning to win the current argument.

"I'm fine, I swear. I'm just really not hungry." he insisted.

"You need to eat more then that, Sam. Not eating was part of the reason for what happened in the choir room. Please, Sam. Just a little more." his foster mother said in a gentle but firm tone.

"Don't make Sammy eat, Jessica! He doesn't like to eat. You shouldn't make him do something he doesn't like to do." little Aiden piped up, causing Sam's eyes to widen in fear and his foster parents to instantly look concerned.

"What do you mean, Aiden?" Phil asked.

Before Sam could do anything to stop him, Aiden replied, "Sammy wasn't eating breakfast the other day 'til I told him it was 'portant, but then he just got one pancake cause he says he doesn't like to eat."

"You haven't been eating breakfast. That's why you wanted to cook before I got up." Jessica said before she placed her face in her hands and took a deep breath, "Please tell me you've been eating lunch."

"I have!" Sam insisted a little too quickly, desperate to find a way out of the conversation.

"If we asked Quinn, what would she tell us?" his foster father questioned.

Sam looked down, fighting tears.

"That's what I was afraid of. Ellie, can you watch Anna and Aiden for little while? Your mother and I need to talk to Sam." Phil said, pulling Sam to his feet and leading him out of the room once Ellie nodded.

Phil guided Sam - who seemed to be on autopilot - into his room and directed him to sit on his bed next to Jessica while Phil pulled Sam's desk chair over so he could sit in front of them.

"How long have you been skipping meals?" the man asked gently, as Sam's fear was obvious.

Sam continued to stare at the floor as he started to shake. Nobody was supposed to know because no one would understand. He was terrified.

"Hey, we're not mad. How long, Sam?" his foster father repeated.

"A while. It's not a big deal. I just ... I need to be stronger. I'm not strong enough." Sam said softly, refusing to look up and attempting to hide the tears running down his face.

"You're one of the strongest people I know, Sam." his foster mother insisted.

"No, I'm not. I wasn't strong enough to stop him when he hurt Ryan or the jerks at school when they hurt all of us." he said brokenly.

"That's not the kind of strength I mean. I mean what really counts. On the inside." Jessica repeated, laying a comforting hand on his shoulder when he still refused to look up.

Phil had been eyeing the weights in the corner of the room while his wife talk to Sam, "How much are you working out?" he asked carefully.

"There's nothing wrong with working out." Sam replied quickly.

"There can always be to much of a good thing, Sam." his foster father replied with a sigh.

Sam pulled his knees to his chest and began to curl into a ball, unable to hold back his quiet sobs any longer.

* * *

Ellie had reassured Anna and Aiden that everything would be okay before getting them to finish eating. Once the dishes were in the sink she had corralled them into their bedroom to play. Anna had quickly declared that she wanted to dance and turned on her CD player, while Aiden had headed into his room looking for Legos. When the phone rang, neither Ellie or Anna heard it over the music, leaving Aiden to rush into the living room to answer it.

"Fa-br-ay, Fabray. That's Quinn's last name." he said to himself with a grin as he looked at the caller ID, before happily answering the phone, "Hi, Quinn!"

"Aiden?" she said, sounding confused.

"Yep! It's me. Hi!" he replied.

"Hi, Aiden. Can I talk to Sam, please?" she asked the little boy.

"I don't think Sam can talk right now." he told her.

"Why can't he talk?" she asked.

"Jessica and Phil are talking to him, cause they're upset 'bout how he doesn't like to eat." the little boy informed her.

"What do you mean, Aiden?" Quinn questioned, trying not to sound worried.

"I told them 'bout how he didn't wanna eat breakfast the other day until I told him it was 'portant, but then he just got a pancake cause he doesn't like to eat. Jessica and Phil got sad cause he doesn't eat breakfast so they went to his room to talk to him. Oh! Phil asked him what you would say if they asked you 'bout lunch, what does that mean?" the six year old said innocently.

"Um ... it just means that Sam needs to eat more. When they're done talking can you tell him that I called but it's okay if he can't call back tonight?" she asked the little boy with a shaky voice.

"Okay! Bye, Quinn!" Aiden said happily.

"Bye." Quinn replied before hanging up.

Aiden put the phone back where it had been and went back to his Legos.

* * *

"Hey, it's gonna be ok." Jessica said as she pulled her foster son into a hug.

"You can't keep this up, Sam. I had a friend in collage who ended up in the hospital from stuff like this. It's not healthy." Phil told his foster son.

"We're going to take you to the doctor in the morning, then I'm going to call Ms. Savoren and see if she can work you in after that." Jessica declared.

"But I have school tomorrow! I'm fine, really." Sam insisted, still trying to convince himself that it couldn't be happening.

"This is more important then school, Sam. You're not fine, but you're going to be." Jessica said gently, trying to comfort him.

"You don't understand. There's nothing wrong with me. I just want to be stronger." he replied softly, trying his best to control his tears.

"This isn't the way to go about it." Phil said firmly, "You're going to go to the doctor and you're going to see your therapist. You can not keep doing this. It's only going to hurt you and we can't sit by and watch you get hurt, even if you're hurting yourself."

"I'm fine!" Sam insisted.

His foster parents didn't even respond that time. Jessica simply pulled him into another hug as Phil began gathering up his weights.

"I'm gonna put these up, okay. After we talk to the doctors, depending on what they say, if you want to work out, you can work out with me. I could probably use it. But you're going to have to stop when I say we need to." Phil said before heading out of the room.

"This is such a mess." Sam muttered, too upset to even care that his foster mother had yet to release him from her last hug.

"I know, Sam, I know. But it's going to get better, I promise. We're going to help you." Jessica said gently.

"But I don't need help." he responded.

She hugged him tighter, "I'm gonna go check on the others. If you need some time alone, you can stay in here. I'm going to be checking on you though, ok?"

Sam nodded, defeated. He knew what that meant. No exercising. He'd known they wouldn't understand. He couldn't believe how quickly things had gone from going so well to falling apart yet again. He flopped back onto his bed, buried his face in his pillow and cried.

* * *

**Author's Note: **And there you have it! Quinn and his family know now! The story is not over by any means. There will continue to be some time jumping (though the next couple chapters will be very close in time to this one) but the story will not end until after Nationals. I hope you guys liked this! I plan on trying to finish the next chapter tonight so it will be ready to post on Friday, or maybe even Thursday night. Take a look at my profile for a some information on what all is coming in this little universe!

_BlackKeys96_: The concert is still around ... four chapters away, I think. But I'm trying to update quickly, so it shouldn't be too long until you find out what songs they do! Thanks for reviewing!

_Tessie: _I'm so glad you liked it! Ms. Savoren is smarter then he thinks, but if he won't talk to her about it at all, she has no way of knowing about issues like this. Luckily it was Aiden accidentally to the rescue. Hopefully now he can get help. Thank you for your review!

PS: 300 reviews now, guys? I adore you all! Virtual group hug!


	47. Chapter Forty Six

Sam walked into the house and headed straight for his room. He'd spent the entire day being poked, prodded and questioned and he was thoroughly convinced that the doctors along with his foster parents had to be crazy. He wasn't anorexic. He wasn't. The more he'd tried to tell them that, the more he'd told them that he was fine the more it seemed to convince them. Just because he wasn't strong enough and he knew he wasn't strong enough didn't mean he had an eating disorder. They were all insane.

The little voice in the back of his head kept reminding him of what the doctor had said, that if he kept doing what he was doing it was going to make him weaker, not stronger because it wasn't good for his body. The rest of his mind told that voice to shut up, because it was already established that the doctor was crazy. Only ... the way the doctor had explained it hadn't sounded so crazy. He couldn't have been right though, because there was no way that Sam was anorexic. They all had to be wrong.

There wasn't anything wrong with wanting to be in good shape. All the guys in Glee worked out. Guys are _supposed_ to work out. He'd heard pretty much every guy he knew talk about wanting to get in better shape. So why did they think that meant something was wrong with him? Maybe the other's hadn't gone quite so far with it, but they didn't _need_ to be stronger like he did. It was different. It had to be.

Now he'd missed a whole day of school that he was going to have to come up with some expatiation for. There was no way he could tell his friends the real reason. It wasn't true and it'd be much too hard to explain how everyone had lost their minds and managed to get that idea. He put his head in his hands and sighed. Wasn't the first sign of insanity supposed to be thinking that you're the only sane one? Maybe they weren't totally off. Maybe what he was doing wasn't exactly healthy. But they had to be overreacting. He _wasn't_ anorexic. Was he?

He was hit with the sudden realization that if one of the girls he knew had been doing what he had been doing he would be worried. He attempted to reassure himself that at least that explained why the doctors and his foster parents came to that conclusion so easily, but suddenly he wasn't quite as convinced about his denial. What would it even mean if he was? Just because they slapped a label on it and told him it was bad didn't change the fact that he needed to be stronger. He wasn't good enough, he was too weak and he had to change that.

He didn't know what to do anymore. He couldn't stop, but it didn't seem like continuing would be the best idea either. Maybe the doctor had just been trying to scare him, it couldn't really do that much damage. It was just exercise and a diet. That was it. It couldn't really be that bad. Maybe he if kept telling himself that, he would believe it.

He didn't have any clue how long he had been sitting in his room lost in thought until he heard a knock on his door and a voice saying "Sammy?" that definitely wasn't Aiden or Anna. It had been a long time since he had heard Ellie sound so young and scared.

"You can come in, Ellie." he said, watching as the door immediately opened and his foster sister walked in, shutting the door behind her and coming to sit on his bed.

"What's wrong?" he asked when she didn't speak.

"Mom and dad sent us to our rooms when we got home so they could talk but ... I was worried, Sammy. I listened to them. They're scared and I'm scared too. They said you're anorexic." the young girl said with tears in her eyes.

"Hey, don't cry. Don't cry, Ellie. I'm fine." he said quickly, trying to comfort her.

"You're not fine. You work out too much and you don't eat enough, I could tell that even before last night. It's not ok, Sammy. It's not ok to skip breakfast and lunch then exercise for half the night!" she insisted with tears quickly pouring down her face and Sam could sense an impending meltdown.

Sam closed his eyes for a moment to try to think. He did not want to be having this conversation with his twelve year old foster sister. He didn't want to be having it with anyone, but especially not any of his foster siblings.

"Maybe I took things a little to far, but it's gonna be ok. You don't need to cry, Ellie, alright? It's gonna be fine." he said as gently as he could.

"You don't get it, this is scary. It's scary like when you first came here and you were hurt so bad. I don't want you to be sick or be hurt." Ellie said, wiping her eyes.

"But I'm not sick and I'm not hurt." he replied.

"Yes, you are! You're hurting yourself. I heard them say that the doctor said you could end up in the hospital if you don't stop. Please, Sammy. You have to stop." she said desperately.

"I'll be fine. I won't have to go to the hospital. It's ok." he insisted.

"Look, Aiden said that Quinn called last night. She wanted you to call her back when you could, but you fell asleep before Aiden remembered to tell you." she said after a long silence, looking even more worried then she had when she first came in. As soon as she finished, she walked out of the room leaving Sam feeling like he hadn't done the best job of handling that situation.

He quickly decided to worry about that later, because right now he needed to come up with reasons for why he hadn't answered the phone last night and hadn't been in school that day. He would have to call Quinn back quickly. He could always just tell her that he'd been sick. If he was going to believe what the doctor's had said, he wouldn't be lying - not that he _did_ believe them, but it should make for a good excuse. He headed into the living room to ask if he could call his girlfriend. Sure enough, he did seem to be interrupting a serious conversation but they quickly agreed and he grabbed the phone and headed back to his bedroom.

"Sam!" Quinn said, answering the phone after the first ring, "I've been so worried!".

"Hey, Quinn." he replied.

"Where were you today?" she asked.

"I was ... sick." he replied, hating himself for not telling her the truth.

"Sam, Aiden told me what happened last night." she said with a sigh.

He let out a breath and collapsed against the wall. There went his plan.

"What ... what did he tell you?" Sam asked in a shaky voice.

"He said that Phil and Jessica were talking to you because they were sad that you don't like to eat, that you don't eat breakfast _or_ lunch. Sam, what are you doing? You work out at school every day, you talk about working out at home too and you're barely eating ... Sam this is scaring me." she said and Sam could tell that she was close to tears like Ellie had been.

"I'm fine." he said.

"Please don't lie to me, Sam. I can tell even you don't really believe that. Where were you today? What's going on? Please, just tell me. Don't keep things from me again." Quinn begged.

Sam knew he didn't have a choice anymore. She had pulled the trump card. He didn't want to lie to her anymore, and he knew that if he wanted any chance at all of staying with her, he had to stop. She didn't deserve to be with someone who wouldn't tell her the truth, no matter how hard that could be.

"They took me to the doctor and to Ms. Savoren." he said carefully, wishing that she would just forget about this line of questioning.

"What did they say?" she asked.

Sam sighed, "I don't really think it's true. I think they're overreacting. Does it really matter?" he said, hoping she would change her mind.

"Please, Sam. What did they say?" she insisted.

"They think ... they think I'm anorexic. But that can't be right. They have to be overreacting." he said quickly.

"Sam, how much are you working out at home?" his girlfriend questioned.

"A few hours a day." he answered, puzzled at the change in her line of questioning.

"If I skipped breakfast _and_ lunch _and_ worked out several hours a day, what would you think?" she asked, her voice making it clear that she was already in tears.

Sam ran his free hand through his hair as he sighed. That was exactly what he had been thinking about earlier. He knew that she had a point and that scared him. He didn't want the doctors to be right, because he didn't want to stop. As long as he could pretend that they were wrong, he could pretend that he didn't need to stop. As long as he pretended they were wrong, he didn't have to think about the fact that he wasn't sure he _could_ stop.

"I would - I would think you had an eating disorder." he said as his voice broke and tears began to stream down his own face.

"I'm gonna help you Sam. We're going to help you." she replied.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I'm so sorry this was late! I didn't have time to finish it before I had to head to my grandparents and then I got recruited to help my aunt go Black Friday shopping too. Everything was so crazy and I figured that it would be best to finish this chapter when I wasn't sleep deprived. I hope you guys liked this!

I have another poll on my profile that I would love for you guys to vote on! I do already have the major storyline arcs for the sequel chosen, but I can play up stories for other characters as well based on the poll results if I need to, I really want you guys to like it! I also have some information about what's coming up in this little universe in my profile here and I posted some spoiler-y stuff on my Tumblr too. If you missed it, I'm katyslittleobsessions and it's under the "Perfectverse" tag.

_BlackKeys96_: I really hope that you liked the way this chapter played out! Thanks for reviewing!

_Tessie: _I'm glad you liked it and I hope you liked this too! Thank you for the review!

_Laura_: Children in foster care are children who are either orphaned, whose parents are in jail or otherwise unable to care for them or who were taken away from their parents due to neglect or abuse. The US doesn't really have orphanages. Some children end up in group homes, which I suppose are pretty similar to an orphanage, but most of them are with families who have been specially trained to take care of them. Sam has not been adopted before, many children end up "bouncing around" to different foster families and that's what has happened to Sam.


	48. Chapter Forty Seven

Looking back, Sam really shouldn't have been shocked to find Quinn waiting for him just inside the school doors the next morning.

"Come on, Sam! We're running through the new routine today and I want to show you!" she announced as soon as she caught sight of him.

She took his hand and quickly began to lead him to the gym. He knew exactly what she was really doing and she had to know that he knew as well. He thought it was nice that she would let him pretend that it was something different though. This way he didn't have to acknowledge that she was keeping him from the weight room - at least not yet. He knew she would eventually run out of things to side-track him with.

As he walked into the gym and sat down on the bleachers, Coach Sylvester did nothing but quirk an eyebrow at him. Once Quinn headed towards the group and the last few Cheerios made it into the room they quickly began the routine. Rather then totally ignoring him as he had expected, he caught the coach looking in his direction a couple of times as if to gage his reaction. It was an odd feeling to realize that he was one of the very few people she actually seemed to almost like.

The routine was slightly tamer then some he had seen in the sense that at least there were no open flames. However, with amount of acrobatics going on, he had a feeling that most if not all of the Cheerios were competition level gymnasts with quite a lot of training. He wondered, not for the first time, what the coaches requirements actually were. The Cheerios were one of the most well respected cheerleading groups around according to Quinn. He just wished he understood why dancing, chanting and acrobatics were so much more respected then singing and dancing.

They ran through the routine several times with Coach Sylvester always spotting some flaw that Sam never noticed and making them repeat it. He was beginning to wonder if they had even done anything wrong or if she just wanted them to think they had for some reason. Finally, she released them to go freshen up before classes. As soon as the other girls began to walk off, Quinn ran over to Sam.

"So, what did you think?" she asked her boyfriend.

"You were amazing. I don't know how you manage to do all of that, but you were amazing." he replied.

"I'm glad you came to watch me." she said, speaking carefully.

Sam nodded, understanding exactly what she meant. She was glad that he let her keep him from his work-out.

* * *

Sam managed to make it through the rest of the school day, though he wasn't quite sure how. He wanted nothing more then to go home, lock himself in his room and exercise enough to make up for all the food he had been forced to eat and workouts he'd been forced to miss. He was wondering if he could sneak in a a short workout or two in the bathroom. Maybe he _had_ gone overboard before but they had to be the ones going overboard now. This was too much.

They had only just began Glee practice when Brittany raised her hand.

"Mr. Schue I want to sing something." she said.

"Okay, Brittany. Sure. Come sing for us." the teacher replied.

Brittany beamed as she headed for the front of the room and whispered something to the band before turning to address her friends, "I want to sing something for Sam to make him feel better!" she announced, embarrassing Sam and confusing the others as they had all recently sang for Sam.

She nodded to the band and waited for her cue to begin singing.

_"I wouldn't want to be anybody else_  
_You made me insecure_  
_Told me I wasn't good enough_  
_But who are you to judge_  
_When you're a diamond in the rough_  
_I'm sure you got some things_  
_You'd like to change about yourself_  
_But when it comes to me_  
_I wouldn't want to be anybody else"_

She sang happily, bouncing around the room and not focusing on anyone in particular. The lyrics only served to further confuse the rest of the room.

_"Na na na na na na na na na_  
_Na na na na na na na na na_  
_I'm no beauty queen_  
_I'm just beautiful me_  
_Na na na na na na na na na_  
_Na na na na na na na na na_  
_You've got every right_  
_To a beautiful life"_

She danced around the room before looking at Sam with the last couple of lines. Even those who recognized the song still looked confused.

_"Who says_  
_Who says you're not perfect_  
_Who says you're not worth it_  
_Who says you're the only one that's hurting_  
_Trust me_  
_That's the price of beauty_  
_Who says you're not pretty_  
_Who says you're not beautiful_  
_Who says"_

There was a brief moment where the others seemed to understand the song choice before she reached the end of the chorus and most of her friends returned to looking mildly confused. Sam would have loved nothing more then to disappear. He knew that Brittany meant well, but at the moment all she was succeeding in doing was embarrassing him.

_"It's such a funny thing_  
_How nothing's funny when it's you_  
_You tell 'em what you mean_  
_But they keep whiting out the truth_  
_It's like a work of art_  
_That never gets to see the light_  
_Keep you beneath the stars_  
_Won't let you touch the sky"_

The more she sang, the more Sam couldn't help but find lyrics that certainly could apply to him but it was more then a little worrying that Brittany had picked up on enough to realize that. He hoped that the others would just excuse it as Brittany being Brittany. As she began to repeat the chorus, several of the others brushed of their confusion and simply joined her in happily singing and dancing around the room.

_"Who says_  
_Who says you're not star potential_  
_Who says you're not presidential_  
_Who says you can't be in movies_  
_Listen to me, listen to me_  
_Who says you don't pass the test_  
_Who says you can't be the best_  
_Who said, who said_  
_Won't you tell me who said that"_

Sam had covered his face in his hands in his embarrassment. He didn't want the others to see how heavily he was blushing, or the tears that kept threatening to fall as he heard a few of the much-too-appropriate lyrics. She could sing to him all she wanted, but he certainly wasn't about to have a conversation with Brittany about 'who said that'. Brittany finished out the song looking a little to care-free for the context of the song she was directing at him, but he wasn't sure much else could have been expected from the girl.

Once the song was over and the others began to return to their seats, Finn spoke up, "Why did you want to sing that to Sam, Brittany?" he questioned.

"Cause he's anorexic." was the simple reply from Brittany.

Sam felt his heart drop out of his chest, "Who told you?" he asked in horror before his brain even registered what was coming out of his mouth.

Every eye in the room turned to stare at Sam in shock as Brittany, who while looking mildly sad still appeared mostly unfazed by the turn of events, replied, "Nobody told me, silly. I never see you eat anymore and you exercise a lot. Like my cousin. She's anorexic too."

Sam quickly resumed burring his face in his hands to hide his tears and Quinn pulled him into a hug when she noticed he was shaking.

"It's true?" Rachel asked, breaking the silence and looking horrified that one of her friends was suffering so much and they hadn't noticed.

Quinn knew that after Sam's reaction there was no hiding it and so she nodded in hopes to end the questioning.

"It's okay, Sam. They're your friends. It's alright. They'll only want to help. You're gonna be fine." she whispered to him, trying to keep herself from panicking as she attempted to comfort her boyfriend.

"How long?" Artie asked as he wheeled himself towards his friend.

"It's not a big deal. I'm fine." Sam said, quickly wiping at his eyes and doing his best to pull himself together as he avoided the question.

"It _is_ a big deal, Sam." Mercedes said softly.

"No. Look, I just wanted to be stronger and I guess maybe I went a little overboard. I'm fine. You don't need to worry." he insisted.

Sam didn't miss the looks his friends exchanged at that comment and he had to force back a sigh.

"Is that why you really weren't here yesterday?" Mike asked.

"Yeah. My foster parents made me go to the doctor." he replied, doing his best to give as little detail as possible.

After another long and awkward silence, Mr. Schue announced that they need to get back to practice. Between the continuous worried looks shot his way and the fact that no matter how badly he messed up a dance step, Mr. Schue never once made him repeat it, Sam was nearly ready to scream but the end of practice. He couldn't figure out why it was so hard to keep a secret in that group.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I hope this one is okay, I'm 100% happy with how it came out! I've done some thinking and this should be ending around chapter 57 or 58, including the epilogue. I plan on doing my best to get a lot of writing done this week so I can finish this fairly quickly and move on to what's next in this universe!

_BlackKeys96_: I'm so happy that you liked it! Thanks for the review!

_Tessie: _Here's your update! Thank you for the review!


	49. Chapter Forty Eight

Sam spent much of the weekend sneaking in a few minutes of exercise whenever he knew he wouldn't get caught and eating as little as his foster parents would let him get away with. They wanted too much from him. They expected him to eat way too much and they weren't allowing him nearly enough workout time. He couldn't do that. They just didn't understand. He was willing to admit that maybe he shouldn't have taken things quite so far but this was too much in the other direction. He still needed to get stronger.

As he headed into school Monday morning, he had expected to find his girlfriend waiting for him to keep him from heading into the weight room. He certainly hadn't expected to find Finn, Kurt, Puck, Mike and Artie waiting for him and then leading him straight to the weight room. As he walked with his friends he grew more and more confused as they refused to answer any of his questions. He was beginning to get the feeling that he might not like whatever they had come up with.

"What is going on?" he asked as Puck shut the door to the room behind them.

"Intervention. Glee-style." Artie replied.

"I told you guys. I'm fine." Sam insisted.

"Yeah. You said you just needed to be stronger." Puck replied easily before motioning to the others as every one of them removed their shirts.

"What are you doing?" Sam asked, more confused then ever.

"Yours too." Puck prompted.

"No way. This is nuts!" he responded.

"Come on, the quicker you do it, the quicker this'll be over." Finn said, causing Sam to sigh and pull off his shirt looking everywhere but at the mirror.

"The mirror's kinda the point." Mike said before gently turning his friend to face the mirror he was so obviously avoiding.

The others lined up in front of the mirror as well before Kurt spoke, "I guess I'm really not strong enough then."

"What? What are you talking about?" Sam asked, turning to his friend.

"Actually, I guess none of us are." Puck added.

Sam turned a baffled expression on his other friend, "What do you mean? You've gotta be one of the strongest guys in the school!"

"He's built a little differently, and he's ... got a little more meat on his bones then you - but then again, we all do - but he doesn't have any more muscle." Artie said gesturing to the mirror.

"You guys are crazy." Sam replied, shaking his head.

"No, we're not. Look, Sam." Mike said a little desperately.

"If you need to be stronger, we all do. Look." Finn said.

So he did. And suddenly, he understood exactly what the doctors had meant. No matter how much he felt like he wasn't strong enough, or that he was fat ... when he looked at himself next to his friends, he had just as much muscle as they did, more in some cases and he was even thinner then some of them too. He had been trying so hard to look like Mike or Puck and he suddenly realized that he already did. What scared him the most was that even with what was right in front of his eyes, part of his brain still kept insisting that_ he_ wasn't good enough. That somehow what was his eyes were seeing couldn't be real.

Something clicked and he knew that the doctors hadn't exaggerated, knew that he really would end up in the hospital if he didn't stop - and he was terrified. It wasn't alright. _He_ wasn't alright. Even though he knew it, he still had no idea how he was going to stop it. He didn't think he could stop. He took another look at his friends before taking a deep breath. He might not be able to stop on his own, but it was finally sinking in that he didn't have to. He wasn't on his own. He had his friends and he had his foster parents and he finally believed that they were really going to help him. He didn't know how long it was going to take, or how hard it was going to be, but in that moment he made himself a promise. He would beat this.

* * *

Sam spent the first part of the day getting random grins and thumbs ups from his friends every time they saw him. It baffled him how he was simultaneously embarrassed and comforted by all the attention. As he sat next to Quinn with his lunch tray, the mildly guilty look on her face proved his suspicions that she had been involved with what the guys had done. He would just have to thank her too.

"Hey." he said with a smile.

"You're really not mad?" she asked instantly.

"No, I'm not. I actually want to thank you. I ... I think I get it now. I need to stop. I just have a feeling actually doing it's going to be anything but easy." he said softly.

"You can do it, Sam. You've made it through so much and I know you can get through this too." she replied taking his hand in hers.

"I'm not so sure about that." he admitted.

"I am. And I'm going be there for you every step of the way. I'm going to help you. _We're_ going to help you. You're not alone in this, Sam." she reminded him.

"Have I ever told you that you're amazing?" he said, squeezing her hand.

"Once or twice." she said with a smirk, "But I have say that I think you're more amazing."

He fought back a blush before replying, "Well then, we'll just have to agree to disagree."

"The concert's this week. You think we're ready?" Quinn asked, changing the subject.

"I think so but ... I think I may want to change my song. I hope Mr. Schue will let me." he replied.

"As long as you can make sure you know it, I'm sure he will." she told him.

"Oh, I'll know it." he said.

"What song is it?" his girlfriend asked.

"I think I want it to be a surprise." he informed her.

"You know, I think I might change my song too." Quinn replied.

"To what?" Sam questioned.

"It's a surprise." she responded with a smirk.

They kept up small talk through the rest of their lunch break. Sam did his best to eat more then he normally would, but he knew that without Quinn's encouragement, he wouldn't have made it very far. It scared him a little that he needed to rely so much on someone else, but in a way, it was comforting to realize that he finally had people he _could_ rely on. As long as he had them, he knew he could keep fighting. No matter how long it took, he was going to make it through. He had too. He had to much to live for now to throw it all away.

* * *

As he walked into the choir room side by side with Sam, he received a concerned look from Tina, "You okay, Sam?" she asked.

Quinn squeezed his hand and seemed to give him a little courage, because he found himself answering truthfully for the first time in a long time, "I will be."

A quickly look around the room confirmed that they had been the last to walk in. He turned to the friends who had been at the 'intervention' that morning and smiled.

"Thank you guys again. I ... I don't know why I couldn't see that before, but I do now. I know I'm not ok right now, but I will be. I don't know when, but I'll be ok again." he said, choosing to ignore the fact that he was blushing.

"Well, you've got us until you are. After too. Family sticks together." Mercedes said.

Before he had time to figure out what had happened the whole room ended up in a group hug. He still couldn't quite believe how lucky he was to have found such an amazing group of friends. He didn't know what would have happened to him if it wasn't for the glee club, and he didn't want to. All he knew was that with them, he would beat his anorexia, it wasn't going to beat him. The hug finally broke up when the teacher walked into the room.

As they all headed for their seats, many of then wiping tears from their eyes, Sam turned to face the teacher, "Mr. Schue. I'd like to change my song."

* * *

**Author's Note:** I hope you guys liked this! The concert is up next and it's already written (two chapters). If my estimation is right, I have seven more chapters (including the epilogue) to write and this story will be over. I'm going to do my best to get ahead enough to update every other day until the story is done. Please go and vote in the poll on my profile if you haven't already! I'm kind of sad that more of you don't like Puck, I kind of adore him. (This is code for, yes, Puck will have one of the main storylines in the sequel, but so will others that many of you do like.)

PS: The song in the last chapter was 'Who Says' by Selena Gomez.

_BlackKeys96_: I'm glad you liked it! Here's the next one! Thank you for reviewing!

_Tessie_: Thank you! I think it's fun to write Brittany as being more perceptive then you would think. Thank you for the review!


	50. Chapter Forty Nine

Sam was torn between annoyed, touched and amused when he realized that his friends seemed to have taken up the 'bodyguard' idea they had used to protect Kurt and Finn from the bullies and were using it to protect him from himself. The past three days a different one of his friends had been waiting for him every morning to sidetrack him and keep him from the weight room. Today appeared to be Kurt's turn.

"Sam would you come to the auditorium with me and help make sure that it's ready for our performance tonight?" the other boy asked almost as soon as Sam walked in the door.

"Sure. You guys do realize that I know what you're doing though, right?" Sam asked as they began to head for the auditorium where they would be holding their concert.

"Of course, but it's so much more pleasant if we all pretend we have important things we need your help with." Kurt replied with a smirk.

"I guess so. We ... uh ... didn't really do that for you and Finn. Sorry." Sam said.

"Oh, it would have been hard to pretend that was anything but what it was with Puck throwing himself in front of us every time someone so much as sneezed." his friend replied with a roll of his eyes.

"I guess you're right." he replied, "And thanks for this, really. I ... I have gotten a little annoyed, but I know I do need it." he said softly, looking down.

"How many times do we have to tell you that Glee club is family? You don't have to thank us." the smaller boy said with a smile.

"I know, but I'm going to anyway." Sam responded as they walked into the auditorium.

"Let's just do a walk-through and make sure it's clean. You do not want to know what I've found in here before." Kurt stated with a disgusted look on his face.

Sam shuddered, "I can only imagine." he said as he held up a banana that had to be several weeks old.

* * *

"Are you excited for tonight?" Sam asked as he sat next to Quinn.

"Yeah. I hope we're able to get enough money raised." she replied.

"I have a good feeling about it after all the advertising we did. I think everyone in town knows about this concert." he said with a laugh.

"True. And we'll probably get some sympathy money from the whole bullying scandal. But if it gets us to New York..." she trailed off.

"I know. If it gets us to New York, we'll take it." he finished for her.

"Do you think everyone's ready?" she asked.

"I think so." he replied, "I've been practicing my song everyday. I didn't let the kids hear it though. Jessica and Phil are bringing them to the concert and Ellie decided it needed to be a surprise, so she's been helping me keep Anna and Aiden away." he explained.

"That's so cute! Seth's going to be there tonight too, right?" she responded with another question.

"Yeah, he called yesterday to confirm that he was going to be there. I can't wait to see him again." Sam said.

"I'm so happy for you. I know you've missed him!" Quinn replied.

The continued to discuss the upcoming concert for the rest of the lunch hour. Quinn had talked to his foster parents Monday night and they had explained how much he was supposed to be eating. She had gotten very good at subtly indicating that he needed to take a few more bites over the past few days. He still struggled quite a bit, but he was determined to get better. There were moments when he hated himself for every bite he took, but with encouragement from his family and friends, he did it anyway. He wasn't going to let his eating disorder beat him.

* * *

Sam glanced nervously out at the very, very full auditorium and suddenly questioned his decision to sing something that meant so much to him. He quickly reminded himself that no one would have to know what the song meant to him and that anyone who could figure it out would know already. The group was nervously getting into position for their first song as Mr. Schue headed out in front of the curtain to introduce them. The only had a few more seconds before their music would start.

"Hello everyone! Welcome to New Directions first annual fund raising concert! The kids have done an amazing job this year and they are one of the top fifty show choirs in the country. All of the money earned tonight will go towards their trip to Nationals in New York! Thank you for coming and we hope you enjoy the concert. The kids will be opening with a number led by the six original members of the choir. They've chosen to sing 'Courage Is' by The Strange Familiar. Please give it up for New Directions!" Mr. Schue said, causing the room to burst into applause.

The group sent a last few nervous glances at each other as the curtain rose and their music began. Rachel stepped forward to begin the song.

_"Take all my vicious words _  
_And turn them into something good" _

She sang her lines with meaning before stepping back and letting Mercedes begin her lines.

_"Take all my preconceptions _  
_And let the truth be understood" _

Mercedes sang as she looked out at the audience and smiled.

_"Take all my prized possessions _  
_Leave only what I need" _

Artie rolled himself forward slightly as the spotlight hit him and he sang the lines he had chosen.

_"Take all my pieces of doubt _  
_And let me be what's underneath" _

Tina finished out the first verse with part she had claimed as soon as they had chosen the song.

_"Courage is when you're afraid, _  
_But you keep on moving anyway _

_Courage is when you're in pain, _  
_But you keep on living anyway" _

The whole choir came together on the chorus, each of them thinking about everything the group had been through that year. The song was definitely important to them.

_"We all have excuses why _  
_Living in fear something in us dies" _

Finn sang his lines as he remembered the days when he hadn't been brave enough to stand up to his group of friends and stop being a bully. He regretted how long it had taken him to do that every day.

_"Like a bird with broken wings _  
_It's not how high he flies, _  
_But the song he sings" _

Kurt came in immediately after his brother, taking the last solo lines of the song.

_"It's not how many times you've been knocked down _  
_It's how many times you get back up" _

The original six sang together, shooting grins at each other as they remembered the early days of New Directions and the first few songs they had performed together.

_"Courage is when you've lost your way, _  
_But you find your strength anyway" _

The rest of the group joined them again, several of them shooting significant looks at some of their friends. The song applied to many of them.

_"Courage is when you're afraid" _

Kurt and Finn sang together, both remembering the fear they had felt when the bullying had gotten particularly bad for them.

_"Courage is when it all seems grey" _

Tina and Artie took the next two lines as they remembered how hard it had been when it seemed like no one else in the school had cared about them at all.

_"Courage is when you make a change" _

Mercedes and Rachel sang, thinking of what the group had done to stop the bullying the last time they had performed in public.

_"And you keep on living anyway _  
_You keep on moving anyway _  
_You keep on giving anyway" _

The original six members of New Directions came together again, meaning every word they sang.

_"You keep on loving anyway" _

The whole group came together to finish the song strongly, grinning at each other as the music faded.

* * *

Several songs into the concert, it was Quinn's turn to perform and she grabbed Sam's hand and pulled him towards the stage with her.

"I want you to stay here. My song is for you." she said, kissing him quickly on the lips before running out onto the stage.

Her music began before she announced the song she was singing, but Sam reminded himself that Mrs. Pillsbury-Howell had made programs for the concert and handed them out, though none of the members of New Directions had been allowed to see them so as not to spoil the few 'surprise songs' that were being done. Puck had already had Lauren close to tears when he repeated his performance of "Collide" with Mike and Tina acting as background dancers.

_"Made a wrong turn once or twice _  
_Dug my way out blood and fire _  
_Bad decisions that's alright _  
_Welcome to my silly life" _

Quinn put so much meaning into the opening words of the song that he felt his heart ache for her, know exactly what she was thinking of. He hated to think of how bad things had gotten for her when she was pregnant.

_"Mistreated, misplaced, misunderstood, miss 'no way it's all good' _  
_It didn't slow me down _  
_Mistaken, always second guessing _  
_Underestimated, look, I'm still around" _

He couldn't help but feel proud of her. It was true that she had made it through a lot and come out of it a better person. It was one of things he loved most about her.

_"Pretty, pretty please don't you ever, ever feel _  
_Like you're less than, less than perfect _  
_Pretty, pretty please if you ever, ever feel _  
_Like you're nothing, you are perfect to me" _

She glanced off stage at Sam before she began the chorus giving him a subtle nod as if to remind him that the rest of the song was about him. He was once again amazed at how she could take a song he had heard a hundred times and make him feel like it was written for them. He felt a surge of affection for her as she sang. He never could have imagined that such an amazing girl would have stuck with him and helped him through all of his issues. Even as things just seemed to keep getting worse, she never wavered.

_"You're so mean when you talk _  
_About yourself, you are wrong _  
_Change the voices in your head _  
_Make them like you instead" _

She shot another quick glance at him as she sang, silently telling him that she knew he was trying and the song was meant to encourage him with nothing more then a look and a smile. It was amazing how easily they could tell what the other was thinking lately.

_"So complicated, look how big you'll make it _  
_Filled with so much hatred such a tired game _  
_It's enough, I've done all I can think of _  
_Chased down all my demons, I've seen you do the same" _

A subtle shake of her head as she sang that it was enough let him know that line didn't quite apply to what she was trying to tell him. He couldn't help but beam at her, flashbacks running through his mind as she sang.

_"Pretty, pretty please don't you ever, ever feel _  
_Like you're less than, less than perfect _  
_Pretty, pretty please if you ever, ever feel _  
_Like you're nothing, you are perfect to me" _

Quinn finished out the song with a final chorus before taking her eyes off of the audience to make eye contact with him as she sang the final line. As the audience applauded she took a quick bow before heading of the stage to make room for Artie who was performing next. She headed straight for Sam as he smiled at her. He pulled her into a hug as soon as he reached her.

"I meant it, you know that right? You _are_ perfect to me." she said softly.

"I know you did. And you're perfect to me too." he replied, finally understanding that she really did love him as much as he loved her.

* * *

**Author's Note:** And here you have it! Part One of the concert! I hope you guys liked it! Quinn sang 'Perfect' by Pink, it was a song I've been planning for a very long time. I actually reconsidered when I found out Glee was using it, but Average Everyday Sane Psycho convinced me to keep it. I'm ahead in writing now and I think I've only got five chapters left to write! I hope you guys like how this all wraps up!

_BlackKeys96_: I'm so happy that you enjoyed the chapter and I hope you liked Quinn's song! Sam will sing in the next chapter! Thank you for reviewing!

_Tessie: _I'm glad you liked it, I thought that seemed like something they would do! Thanks for the review!


	51. Chapter Fifty

Sam nervously prepared for his performance. As soon as Finn and Rachel finished their duet, it would be time for him to step onto the stage. None of his friends knew what he was singing and though his foster siblings might have gotten ahold of the program unless Ellie had kept it from the younger ones, he wasn't sure if they would know the song by it's title only. He had spotted Seth earlier and he hoped that he was liking the concert. He couldn't wait to see him once it was over, though they had spoken on the phone, they hadn't seen the little boy since he had gone home.

As Finn and Rachel stepped of the stage he took a deep breath and headed on to it. His music started and he told himself not to think of anything but the song as he began to sing.

_"You feel like a candle in a hurricane _  
_Just like a picture with a broken frame _  
_Alone and helpless _  
_Like you've lost your fight _  
_But you'll be alright, you'll be alright" _

The song had been something he had turned to many times since he first heard it shortly after he came to live with the Turners. It had quickly become his favorite and over the last week he knew it would have been on near constant repeat even if he hadn't been practicing to perform it. The first few lines were exactly how he'd felt back then - and how he often felt now - and the song had been a source of comfort, especially then when he hadn't allowed anyone else to comfort him.

_"Cause when push comes to shove _  
_You taste what you're made of _  
_You might bend, till you break _  
_Cause its all you can take _  
_On your knees you look up _  
_Decide you've had enough _  
_You get mad you get strong _  
_Wipe your hands shake it off _  
_Then you stand, then you stand" _

He sang the chorus with feeling, it described exactly what he was trying to do. He was taking a stand, he was fighting with his eating disorder and he was determined to win.

_"Life's like a novel _  
_With the end ripped out _  
_The edge of a canyon _  
_With only one way down _  
_Take what you're given before its gone _  
_Start holding on, keep holding on" _

Sam knew that was what he had to do. He had to accept that his friends and foster family were really there for him and start holding on to them. He wasn't going to let go, because he didn't think he could do it without them.

_"Cause when push comes to shove _  
_You taste what you're made of _  
_You might bend till you break _  
_Cause it's all you can take _  
_On your knees you look up _  
_Decide you've had enough _  
_You get mad, you get strong _  
_Wipe your hands, shake it off _  
_Then you stand, then you stand" _

He had a feeling that the audience might be able to tell how much he meant the words he was singing, but he at least knew that they wouldn't know why. His friends would know however, but though he would never have believed it a few months ago, he really didn't mind that.

_"Every time you get up _  
_And get back in the race _  
_One more small piece of you _  
_Starts to fall into place" _

Those were some of the truest words in the song. As hard as the past week had been, he had felt more like himself then he had in a very, very long time once he had started fighting to recover. He sang through the chorus one final time before finishing the song. He was flooded with relief as the music ended and the audience applauded. The curtains closed and he walked off the stage to find himself in the middle of another group hug.

* * *

They had finally made it to the end of the concert and were just about to step onto the stage for their final number. They had decided to end with a group number that had become extremely important to all of them. The song fit them nearly perfectly and they had all agreed that it might be a number they would have to pull back out and use again someday. They took their positions on the stage and the music began as the curtain rose.

_"For those days we felt like a mistake, _  
_Those times when loves what you hate, _  
_Somehow, we keep marching on." _

The spotlight hit Rachel first and she began the song, smiling out at he audience on her last line.

_"For those nights when I couldn't be there, _  
_I've made it harder to know that you know, _  
_That somehow, we'll keep moving on." _

Kurt had insisted on taking the next lines despite the fact that they had all repeatedly told him that they understood perfectly why he had left, that he hadn't had much of a choice. He had argued back that even if he hadn't had a choice it had made things harder for the others, especially Finn and so he sang them anyway.

_"There's so many wars we fought, _  
_There's so many things we're not, _  
_But with what we have, _  
_I promise you that, _  
_We're marching on, _  
_(We're marching on) _  
_(We're marching on). _

_For all of the plans we've made, _  
_There isn't a flag I'd wave, _  
_Don't care if we bend, _  
_I'd sink us to swim, _  
_We're marching on, _  
_(We're marching on) _  
_(We're marching on)." _

The whole group joined in to sing the chorus together, meaning every word. They all felt like they had fought a war against the rest of school in their attempts to stop the bullying, but it was a war they had won. Things certainly weren't perfect now, but as the song said, they were marching on.

_"For those doubts that swirl all around us, _  
_For those lives that tear at the seams, _  
_We know, we're not what we've seen" _

The others had insisted on giving Sam a solo in the song and it had been Quinn who had insisted he should take those particular lines. He had to admit that they did fit him rather well.

_"For this dance we'll move with each other. _  
_There ain't no other step than one foot, _  
_Right in front of the other." _

Tina didn't take her eyes of her boyfriend once as she sang the lines she had chosen. It was easy to see why they were one of the couples that had caused the others to run a betting pool on when they would get engaged. They went back through the chorus again, all of them shooting glances and smiles at each other as they sang and making it obvious to the audience just how close the members of New Directions were to each other.

_"We'll have the days we break, _  
_And we'll have the scars to prove it, _  
_We'll have the bonds that we save, _  
_And we'll have the heart not to lose it." __  
_  
Artie rolled in front of the others as he sang his part. He insisted that the group of friends was living proof that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger and it made them closer too. They were friends for life now, they all knew it and Artie had wanted to sing the lines that referenced that fact.

_"For all of the times we've stopped, _  
_For all of the things I'm not." _

The whole group sang those lines together, each remembering times where they had wondered how to go on.

_"We put one foot in front of the other, _  
_We move like we ain't got no other, _  
_We go when we go, _  
_We're marching on." _

Finn took the final solo lines of the song remembering how many times the group had all come together to help each other keep going. They went through the final chorus of the song together and as the music faded they all ended in a group hug before the curtain even closed as the audience applauded them. If the amount of people there were any indication, they knew they had done it. They would have the money to go to New York.

* * *

Sam was waiting for his foster family to make it backstage. Anna was beginning to get better about her fear of crowds and the chance to meet Sam's friends had won out over avoiding all of the people. They would all be coming backstage along with Seth and his mother. He couldn't wait to see Seth again. Before he spotted the people he was waiting for, he saw a tall boy with dreadlocks and a nose ring run towards Santana and kiss her.

"When did that happen?" he asked the room in general.

"About three weeks ago." Mercedes informed him, "His name's Miles. Santana says that he's always wanted to join Glee with us, but he's got the world's weirdest combination of overprotective and permissive parents. He can do whatever he wants as long as they don't think it's remotely dangerous. Apparently he knew that the first time he came home with a bruise or a stained shirt they'd make him quit, but now that jerks like that have to leave us alone, he wants to join next year."

Before he had time to ponder it any more he found himself being tackled by four children.

"Sammy! You were awesome! Where's Quinn?" Aiden asked as he reached his arms up for Sam to pick him up.

Sam laughed and picked the little boy up, "Thanks! She's over there. We'll go see her in a little bit, ok?" he replied.

"You were really, really good!" Seth announced.

"Thank you, Seth. It's great to see you again! I missed you!" Sam said as he shifted Aiden so he could get an arm free to hug the other little boy.

"You're very talented, Sam." Seth's mother said, "And I can see why Seth is so fond of you. It's nice to finally meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too." he replied, looking embarrassed at the praise.

The four children hovered around Sam for the next ten minutes before they went to go talk to some of Sam's friends and compliment them on their performances. Their excitement quickly managed to charm the rest of New Directions and Aiden had squirmed down from Sam's arms to go cling to Quinn as soon as he spotted her. He smiled as he noticed that Ellie seemed to be asking Rachel some serious questions. He knew that even though she was only in seventh grade, she wanted to join New Directions once she began high school. He couldn't believe how well the night had gone. Once the crowd had finally dispersed, Mr. Schue made his way back towards to group and officially announced that they had raised enough money to go to New York. They celebrated backstage for another thirty minutes.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I really hope that you guys liked this chapter! We're starting to get very close to the end now. I'm three chapters ahead and all I have left to write is Nationals and the epilogue. Those of you who've seen what I posted on my Tumblr likely saw Miles coming. I know that Samuel Larson will have an actual role on the show and I had planned to wait it out until we know who he will be and then work him into this, but I needed to go ahead and write him in, so I came up with a character for him on my own.

_BlackKeys96: _Thank you! I hope that you did like Sam's song too!

_Tessie: _I've had it planned for a while, but not from the very beginning. It just worked amazingly well with this story. Thank you for reviewing!


	52. Chapter Fifty One

Sam was quickly discovering that recovering was even harder then he had expected. Many times it felt like every bite he ate was torture and even though he knew it was dangerous for him to keep going the way he had been, there were still times where all he wanted to do was lock himself away somewhere and work out enough to make up for the food he had eaten. He had sometimes spent hours having to mentally repeat to himself that there was no way everyone around him was crazy and if they all said he really was underweight and what he had been doing really was dangerous, then they were the ones who were right. There was no doubt in his mind that without his friends and foster family he would not have been able to keep going.

The increased visits with his therapist sometimes felt like another form of torture. He really didn't want to talk about the things she wanted him to talk about, but once he had let his guard down upon realizing that he had no more secrets, she was very good at getting him to talk about them anyway. Conversations with her had already been turned several times to the time he spent with the Mason's, which had nearly always resulted in the return of his nightmares. Luckily, he had still been able to wake himself up before he alerted anyone else in the house to what was going on. He just wished that he understood why he was also back to being much more jumpy then he would like.

He was still very grateful for his overprotective, hovering friends, but he was also beginning to feel a little smothered. He was rarely ever left alone and they panicked if he looked remotely upset or tired. If he found himself flinching or jumping at a touch or a sound, he found himself also having to deal with a friend who seemed to be on the verge of a heart attack. Quinn and oddly enough, Kurt and Finn were the only ones who had yet to make him feel like he was going to lose his mind. They had informed him that it was because they had all also been on the receiving end of the overprotective hovering that their friends were so talented at.

When he was with his foster family, Jessica and Phil had gotten much better at avoiding hovering, but Ellie hadn't. He hated how much he had clearly scared the younger girl. Her worried staring as he ate only served to make him more nervous however, a fact that Jessica had quickly picked up on. Within a few days, she had begun to get up a little earlier with Sam and allow him to eat before the children got up. Ellie hadn't yet failed to pull Jessica aside shortly after she woke and he didn't have to hear the conversation to know that she was asking her mother if he had eaten. He had so far managed to save his meltdowns for when he was in private - and once when he was with Quinn. He didn't want to give his foster sister another reason to worry.

Whenever the focus managed to get off of Sam's anorexia, all that seemed to be on anyone's minds was Nationals. Now that they had the money raised everyone seemed to be several times more excited then they had been before. The rest of the chaperones had signed up, Mike's mother, Finn and Kurt's parents and Mercedes parents would be helping to keep track of all of them along with Mr. Schue and Jessica. After much discussion they had decided that it would be best to go back to their original solo, duet and group number routine. They had chosen the group song they would be performing just the day before and all of them were excited about the chosen arraignment of the number. They had yet to decided on the duet and the solo numbers, but they had been informed that they would talk about the solo in Glee that afternoon. As such, it was no surprise that the current topic of conversation between Sam and Quinn was about the upcoming trip.

"You need to make a list of a few things you want to try and see while we're there." Quinn told her boyfriend.

"We only have three days, we won't have time for much." he replied.

"No, but if you put them in order of what you want to do, we can just go down the list as we have time. If you've never been out of state before, we've got to make this special!" she insisted.

"I'll be in New York to compete in a national competition with you. Special's already covered." he said.

Quinn blushed at his comment, "You know what I mean! I really want to make sure you have fun!" she told him.

"I know, and I will. No matter what we do, I'll have fun. But I'll make that list if you want me too." Sam conceded.

"Good." she declared with a smile.

"I'm excited about the group number, I'm glad we're gonna do it like that." he told her, changing the subject.

"I am too. I wonder how we're going to pick the solo and the duet though." she commented.

"I don't know, but we'll find out this afternoon. After the group number though, hopefully there won't be too much fighting about it." he said.

"Oh, I think the chances of there being no fighting are close to zero. There's always arguing over that." Quinn responded with a laugh.

"Well, true." he admitted, "But at least there should be less fighting."

They had quickly settled into a lunch routine. They kept the conversation up non stop as much as was possible to keep Sam's mind off of eating. Quinn would simply nod at his plate if he needed to eat more and without any need to call more attention to it, he would make himself take a few more bites. The pair seemed to have nearly mastered silent communication, a fact that was beginning to greatly amuse their friends. Mercedes had joked that they could tape their mouths shut and Sam and Quinn would still be able to communicate just as well. Brittany had to quickly be assured that Mercedes had only been joking. As such, they made it through the rest of the lunch hour without anyone realizing what was going on, while still making sure that Sam ate enough.

* * *

The group met up in the choir room for practice, all of them excited to find out who would be getting the solo at Nationals. Performance solo's were always a big deal, but Nationals was a whole new level. The chosen group number had taken some of the pressure off, but Sam could tell that many people were still hoping for the chance to perform a song on their own. No matter what happened, he knew that everyone would be happy just to perform as one of the top fifty show choirs in the country. They were all still thrilled just to have that chance.

"So," Mr. Schue began with a clap of his hands as soon as he walked into the room, "Who's ready to find out who will get the solo for Nationals?" he asked as he shut the choir room door.

The room erupted into playful cheers and the teacher grinned as he pulled out multiple strips of paper and several pens and began passing them out to the group, "I want each of you to write down who you think should take the solo - and you can't vote for yourself. Come put them in the hat when you're done and I'll count the votes! The winner will choose their song." he announced after placing a hat upside down on a stool in the middle of the room.

Sam stared at his blank paper as he tried to decide who to vote for. The simple fact that he was dating Quinn made him want to vote or her, but he knew that they had taken the duet at Sectionals. He thought it would be good to let someone who hadn't had a major solo in a performance yet have the solo. He knew that everyone in the club was very talented and nearly all of them would do a wonderful job, so he was having a hard time deciding. He had thought about Kurt, as from what he had heard, Kurt hadn't had a major performance solo with New Directions, but he remembered that Kurt had gotten a solo with the Warblers at Regionals.

After a lot of thought, he finally decided to vote for Tina. She had done a wonderful job with her solo at the assembly and he thought she deserved the Nationals solo. He was one of the last people to take their paper up to the hat. As he sat back down, he looked around the room and watched the rest of his friends write down their votes before bringing them up. Mr. Schue took the hat and headed for his office to tally up the votes and the members of New Directions waited nervously for the results. He could feel the excitement in the room when their teacher walked back in.

"Okay. After I counted the votes, we have a very clear winner." Mr. Schue began, drawing out the announcement, "The solo for Nationals goes to ... Sam!"

* * *

**Author's Note: **I hope you guys liked this chapter! We're really getting close to the end of 'Perfect' now! If anyone hasn't voted in the poll on my profile, please go do that! This is the last chance for me to make any major changes to my plans for the sequel! So far I think I'll need to work in a little more for one character, but I want to make sure everyone's had their chance to have a say!

_BlackKeys96_: Oh, I'm so glad you liked the songs! And it won't really be ending, don't forget about the sequel! Thank you for reviewing!

_Tessie_: I'm so happy you liked it! Thanks for the review!


	53. Chapter Fifty Two

It had been nearly a month since Sam was diagnosed with anorexia and though his weight had balanced out, he was still underweight and still struggling. He had some good days where things were a little easier but he also had some very bad days where he had to fight back tears at the mere thought of the next meal. His foster family and friends had been by his side through the whole ordeal, but he truly didn't know what he would have done without Quinn. His girlfriend had seen him at his worst as well as his best and she had never wavered in her love for him. He knew that he was young, but he couldn't imagine his life without her anymore.

Quinn knew more about him then anyone - save for his therapist who was still proving annoyingly good at getting him to talk. He still couldn't quite believe his luck. Quinn was such an amazing girl and it seemed so impossible that she could love someone with more baggage then an airplane, but she did. She loved him, the dorky foster child with an abusive past, anorexia and what his therapist was beginning to suspect might be post traumatic stress disorder. She made it all worth it to him. He knew, even on his really bad days, that no matter how bad he felt, he had his friends, he had his foster family and he had her. He wasn't giving up, no matter how much he wanted to sometimes.

He might not have a real family, but he knew now that he at least had people who wouldn't send him away. He would stay with them until college and after the research he had done and a talk with his social worker, he knew that he would be alright after high school. It might not be easy, but he could do it. He still wanted to be adopted, he still wanted to have people who would truly be his forever and it still hurt that no one had ever wanted him enough to give him that, but he knew he would be okay even without that now. He didn't really want to leave the Turners and the life he had with his friends and foster siblings in Lima anyway, but he couldn't help but wish for more.

Things had been going well for the glee club kids. They had avoided any more major traumatic events and a few days ago they had decided to let Finn and Rachel have the duet at Nationals much to Rachel's delight. Santana had been too sidetracked by her new boyfriend to protest much and due to the group song, everyone else had been fine with the decision. The couple had already chosen the song they would be performing, with Rachel happily announcing that it fit perfectly with the theme of the group song. Sam knew that he needed to have his own song picked out soon, but nothing had seemed right yet.

Truth be told, he was still getting over the shock of being given the solo. He had been afraid that it was simply a pity vote, but Rachel had quickly assured him that she voted for him and she would never have done so if she didn't think he could help them win. It was such a Rachel thing to say that he had nearly laughed, but as the others informed him that his solo at the concert had greatly influenced their choice, he felt better about the decision. He was nervous that his friends had trusted him with such an important position for Nationals and he wanted to choose the perfect song, he didn't want to let them down.

At the moment, he was doing his best to distract himself by running through every song he could think of in his head. That day had been one of his bad ones and he had gone to his room immediately following dinner so that his foster siblings wouldn't see him if he broke down. His eating disorder had been explained in it's simplest terms to Anna and Aiden, much to his embarrassment. He had liked being someone they looked up to and he hated that they knew. He had saved what little was left of his pride by refusing to let them see him in his worst moments.

As if he had known that Sam was thinking about him, little Aiden chose that time to knock on his door, "Sammy? Can I come in?" the little boy asked.

"Come on in." Sam said, deciding he had pulled himself together enough.

"Are you ok, Sammy?" the just-turned-seven year old asked.

"I'm better now." he replied as his foster brother climbed onto the bed next to him.

"Jessica said you left cause today was a bad day and you were sad." Aiden informed him.

Sam sighed, "I guess I'm not much of a superhero anymore, huh?" he asked.

"Yes, you are!" the little boy replied, looking as though Sam had been crazy to think otherwise.

"What do you mean?" he question, confused. He certainly didn't feel much like a hero.

"Superhero's get hurt and sick and sad too, they just get better! And you're gonna get better too!" Aiden insisted.

"You're amazing kiddo, you know that?" the older boy said, tickling the child.

"Nu-uh. You are! You're Superman!" the little boy responded through his giggles.

"Well, I think you're pretty Super too, so who are you then?" Sam teased.

"Duh, I'm your sidekick, 'member?" Aiden reminded him.

"Oh, of course." he replied, remembering the conversation he'd had several weeks ago with his little foster brother.

Sam picked the little boy up and 'flew' him out of the room, into the hallway and set him down in his own bedroom, "I'll play with you some more later, ok buddy? I've got some homework I need to finish." he said before heading back to his own room. He knew exactly what he wanted to sing now.

* * *

"So, what do you think?" Sam asked as Quinn looked up from the lyrics he had printed out and brought to school.

He hadn't really expected her first reaction to be to hug him, "That's your song?" she questioned.

"Yeah. I mean I know it's ... but that's just part how things are for me right now, I think the other songs we're doing explain the rest pretty well." he replied.

"You know it doesn't seem like it at first, but it really does fit in with the other songs, doesn't it? I know this is your song, but I think we've all felt kinda like that before too." she said.

"That's what I had been thinking." he explained.

"It's perfect, Sam. If you perform that half as well as you did Stand there's no way we'll lose." she told him.

"It wasn't that good." Sam insisted.

"Sam, you got more applause then anyone else." she said with a smirk.

"Well ... what do you think we'll do for the forth number? The one we need for if we make the top ten?" he replied, fighting back a blush.

"Rachel's been talking about re-vamping an old number for that. I have a feeling she knows exactly which song she wants and she's just trying to get everyone to agree to her idea piece by piece." Quinn replied with a soft laugh.

"That sounds like Rachel. Finn's been talking about that too, so I'm sure whatever they've come up with, they're in it together." Sam told her.

"Yeah, that sounds about right too and I think I know what song they're thinking of." she informed him.

They spent the next several minutes discussing the set list for Nationals and what the final song might end up being. Quinn's gentile and silent reminders for him to eat combined with the easy conversation always made meals a little easier for Sam. He was able to keep his mind off of what he was doing for the most part while discussing Nationals faded into some mild gossip about Santana's latest boyfriend. They both agreed that Miles and Santana made a much cuter couple then anyone would have expected. For someone as tough as Santana and someone who looked as tough as Miles, there was an awful lot of hand holding, quick kisses and walking to classes together. It was almost amusing to watch them interact, but both Sam and Quinn were simply glad to see Santana happy. Things seemed to be looking up for everyone.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I hope you guys liked this! Only one chapter left before they're in New York! I'm fairly certain that this will end on Chapter Fifty Six, but there's an epilogue.

_BlackKeys96:_ Thank you! I'm glad you're looking forward to the sequel - I'm looking forward to writing it!

_Tessie_: As I've mentioned before, I'm addicted to happy endings. I may torture characters, but things will always be better in the end. Thank you for your review!


	54. Chapter Fifty Three

Over a month and a half after his diagnosis, he was still rarely ever alone. Wanting to be alone was always seen as a possible sign that he would do something he shouldn't and the lack of privacy was slowly beginning to drive him insane, no matter how necessary he knew that it was. There were days where it felt like he would never be better. He knew that it would never fully go away, that there would always be scars left to remind and tempt him, but it was supposed to get better, easier. At least he hoped it was.

He'd had moments of wondering if his therapy was doing more harm then good as well. The week before he'd had a nightmare that had woken up the whole house and Ellie, Anna and Aiden were still looking worried. It seemed like the more progress he made on his eating disorder, the harder it became to deal with everything else. Ms. Savoren had informed him that it was because his anorexia had been a coping mechanism for him. He didn't think that he liked the sound of that. In his mind, fixing one thing wasn't supposed to make another worse.

He knew one thing, with the labels of anorexia and PTSD going in his file, there was no way he would ever be adopted. He would just have to make the best of what he had. He had made his own family in Lima, and someday he would have a real family. Hopefully he would even have that family with Quinn. He knew for sure that he would make sure his children never had to go through what he had gone through. His life had given him plenty of examples of how not to raise children, but he thought that the Turners were finally giving him an example of the right way to do it.

His friends still seemed to be on their 'baby-sitting' rotation, but he didn't really mind it quite as much anymore. He knew they only wanted to protect him and he knew he likely did still need the distraction. Plus, it allowed him to spend a little time alone with each of his friends. He thought that he probably knew more about about what was going on in the lives of everyone in the group then any of the others did. He knew that Puck was having some kind of issues with his mother and that Brittany had decided that she was the next big triple threat, he had a feeling Mercedes had a crush on Artie and considering that Santana and her boyfriend seemed to be attached at the hip - including when she spent her mornings with Sam - he knew more about Miles then most of the others combined.

As he headed into the school that morning, he spotted Finn standing just inside the doors. It was apparently his best friend's turn to stay with him that day. He had a feeling that both of them missed their morning conversations, so he always liked to see that Finn was the one waiting for him. As much as he liked spending time with the others, Finn was still the one who had been his first real friend in Lima and their friendship would always be special because of that. Sam always enjoyed the chance to talk to him.

"Hey, Finn!" he called as he headed towards his friend.

"Sam! Hey, dude! I need to ... um ... make sure you know the fourth song for Nationals well enough." Finn said.

Sam had to fight not to roll his eyes, "So we're going to the choir room, right?" he asked, "We've been singing that song for practice for months now and I know the new arraignment just as well as you guys." he added.

"I know, but we're supposed to practice." his friend replied.

"Alright." Sam conceded. Finn was one of the only ones who still insisted on trying to come up with something to distract him, most of the others had ended up just using the time to talk or study with him. Sam had a feeling that Rachel might be behind Finn's antics, as she was one of the others who always had to have something to do. The last time it had been Rachel's turn, she had a sudden need to learn Na'vi.

"So, what's been going on with you?" Sam asked as they made their way towards the choir room.

"I've been helping out at Burt's shop a lot. Kurt still won't let me do anything without someone else there though. It was only one time..." Finn replied.

"What was only one time?" the blond boy questioned.

"Nothing." his friend said much too quickly. Sam was torn between the sudden need to question Kurt about it as soon as he got the chance and the thought that he might not want to know what Finn had managed to do.

"Okay. So, what I am I supposed to need to practice exactly?" Sam asked his friend as they walked into the room.

"Uh... the dance!" Finn declared.

Sam just looked at his friend for a moment before it seemed to dawn on the other boy what he had said, "Oh. Maybe we should just run through the song a couple of times." he said.

"Yeah, I think that might work better." Sam replied with a laugh as he pulled out his guitar.

* * *

As he sat in in class once again waiting for the teacher to show up, he turned to Mike, "So your mom's going to chaperone the trip too right? Where's your brother going to stay?" he asked.

"Actually, Shawn managed to talk her into letting him come. He'll only miss two days of school, just like us." his friend replied.

"Really? Ellie's doing the same thing. She managed to convince Phil and Jessica that it would be educational - plus she really wants to join glee when she starts high school." Sam said.

"I'm getting the feeling they planned this together. That was Shawn's argument too." the other boy said with a quiet laugh.

"That's right, they do have a few classes together, don't they? I guess they make a pretty good team." he replied as he remembered Ellie talking about Shawn a few times.

"We might need to keep an eye on them." Mike added.

"I doubt Jessica will let Ellie out of her sight." Sam commented.

"True. My mom will probably be the same way with Shawn too. I guess we don't have much to worry about it - at least during the trip." the dark haired boy responded.

"It's kinda cool that they get along so well. You said Shawn wants to join Glee too, right? They'll be friends already." Sam pointed out.

"Yeah, he does. They've still got another year though. I'm kinda glad he wants to be in Glee, that way I know you guys can watch out for him since I start college that year." Mike said.

"Of course we'll watch out for him. We'd watch out for him even if you weren't in college." the blond told his friend.

Before they could continue their conversation, the teacher finally walked into the room. Sam was glad she had finally decided to show up. She had set a record the week before by being a full thirty minutes late. He had a feeling that couldn't quite be legal, but their had always been bigger issues with the school, so he figured that it would be best to just let it slide.

* * *

Everyone had decided that it would be best not to comment when Santana walked into the choir room with Miles and he sat down next to her. Sam was trying to figure out if the other boy had simply decided to randomly skip class, or if he just wanted to see how things generally went in Glee. Miles had seemed serious about his plans to join New Directions the next school year and had already questioned Sam about how things usually went - apparently he had wanted multiple opinions. He decided not to ask, as he knew it would come up once Mr. Schue spotted Santana's boyfriend sitting with them.

"Okay, guys! We only have a little over a week, we really need to get these routines down." the teacher said shut the door behind him, "Miles? Don't you have a class you're supposed to be in?" he asked when he turned around and spotted sudden addition to the group.

"My teacher hasn't been here all day, she forgot to call a sub. I figured I would just sit in here and watch Santana practice with you guys, if that was ok with you." Miles responded.

Mr. Schue glanced around the room, Rachel looked as if she didn't quite trust him not be spying, but the others simply shrugged or nodded. They had all met Miles and got along fairly well with him. Santana rarely went anywhere without him anymore and the two seemed ridiculously in love. He had frequently come to hang out with the group, calling his mother once an hour to assure her that he was fine, but otherwise fitting in quite well. They all knew that his audition at the beginning of the next school year would mostly be a formality. Once Miles was informed that he could stay, they quickly began to run through the set list for Nationals as the excitement continued to build, knowing that they would be performing it soon.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I hope this one was okay, I wasn't too sure about it either. This was the last chapter before they're in New York though! There's just three chapters and an epilogue left! Thank you to everyone who's voted in the poll on my profile! I have some sort of storyline idea for everyone in the sequel, some are small storylines and some are very important, but the poll is helping me to figure out who's storylines I need to play up a bit. I also wanted to remind you all that I can not reply to your reviews if you have private messaging turned off!

_BlackKeys96: _Well, you'll find out in a couple chapters! I'm glad you liked it and thank you for reviewing!

_Tessie: _I'm so happy you liked the chapter! And I love it when people point out specific lines they liked, so thanks! And thank you for the review!


	55. Chapter Fifty Four

As Sam stepped off the plane, he could barely believe where he was. They had finally made it. New Directions was in New York. There had been times where it had felt like they would never get to that point, but there they were, standing in a New York airport the day before Nationals. Everything they had been through had all lead up to that weekend. Things were finally doing better for them all and they were where they had been trying to be so long. Things hadn't magically gotten better, Sam knew that he still had a long road of recovery ahead of him but this weekend was about having fun and proving that they deserved to be there.

Rachel and Kurt were both nearly bouncing off the walls, much to the amusement of the rest of the group. The two of them had tickets to see Wicked that night along with Finn and Mercedes and they had talked of nothing else for the last week. Sam and Quinn would also be going to see a Broadway musical as well. Quinn's had insisted that Sam choose one to see in her quest to make sure he had as much fun as possible and Sam had finally decided on How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying. The others all had plans as well and the chaperones had been divided between them. Sam and Quinn would be spending the evening with Mrs. Chang.

First off, however, they had to make it the auditorium where Nationals would be held for their rehearsal time. They needed to make sure their all of their numbers would run smoothly on the stage they would be performing on. They could run through the songs again later, but it would be the last chance they would have to truly go through the routines exactly as they would be performed before they had to compete. It was their last chance to make things run as smoothly as possible. They weren't going down without a fight, every one of them was hoping that New Directions would be named the top show choir in the country.

They group loaded into a bus and after a rather amusing amount of time spent arguing over the window seats they set out on their way to the auditorium, the hotel would be their second stop to due their early rehearsal time. He couldn't help but smile at the looks of awe on Kurt and Rachel's faces as they starred out the windows and all the sights of New York. He nearly laughed when he realized that Finn looked almost as fascinated. He was glad that he did though, because Sam didn't think there was any way that Finn would let Kurt and Rachel go anywhere without him and Kurt and Rachel didn't want to go anywhere but New York.

They arrived at their destination quickly and headed towards the stage as Mr. Schue went to talk to the people in charge of lighting and sound. They had fifteen minutes to excitedly look over the auditorium before Mr. Schue came back and announced that they were ready to start. They quickly took their places and used the time they had to make sure they were comfortable on the new stage. Sam didn't want to get over confident, but he couldn't help but think that they had a good chance. He was proud of his group of friends and how far they had come.

They stopped for lunch on the way back to the hotel and Sam couldn't help but be glad they were making good time. He and Quinn had plans to go to the Museum of Natural History that afternoon before heading out to dinner and the musical they were planning to see. The group had decided to all do their own thing with what was left of Friday but Sunday would be dedicated to them all enjoying New York together. Hopefully they would be celebrating , but they were determined to have fun either way.

Once they arrived at the hotel they were quickly split up into rooms. Sam, Finn and Kurt would share a room while Puck, Mike and Artie took the other room designated for the boys and Santana, Lauren, Quinn and Brittany would be together with Rachel, Tina and Mercedes taking the last room reserved for the students. The adults quickly sorted out their rooms and the group headed up to find out where they would be sleeping and drop of their bags. None of them planned to be staying to long at the hotel that day. They had all decided to meet in Rachel, Tina and Mercedes room to split off into groups.

Sam and Quinn were happily talking with their friends while they waited for Mike's mother to come to the room. The teenagers had all been told that they were allowed to leave as soon as their chaperone was ready. Sam and Quinn planned to head straight for the museum as soon as possible so they would have time to talk and enjoy it before they headed out for dinner. The whole group had agreed that any sort of date was going to be awkward with the chaperones there, but they understood why it was necessary. Most of them were happy to be able to simply spend time together.

"Hi, Mrs. Chang!" Sam called as he spotted his and Quinn's chaperone.

The woman smiled at them as she headed towards them, "Are the two of you ready to head out?" she asked with a smile.

When Sam and Quinn both agreed they headed out to hail a cab and make their way to the museum.

* * *

"So what were our plans today after the museum?" Mike's mother asked as they walked into the building.

"We're going to dinner after this and then Sam wants to see 'How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying'." Quinn informed her.

"I had wanted to see the Spiderman musical at first, but it's not open yet." Sam admitted, "Seeing the guy who played Harry Potter singing and dancing should be pretty cool too though."

Mrs. Chang laughed, "I can see why you are such good friends with my son."

They wandered through the museum happily looking at the different exhibits. Sam still couldn't quite believe that he was really in New York. He had spent his entire life in Ohio and he thought he could definitely learned to love traveling. He had always enjoyed getting to experience new things and he hoped that someday he could put all the languages he knew to use and even travel out of the country. He wasn't desperate to leave Ohio like so many of his friends seemed be, but he did want to be able to see and do things in other places and not live the rest of his life confined to just one state.

Sam and Quinn walked hand in hand, often with Quinn leaning gently against him as they stopped to look at something and discuss it. Mrs. Chang left enough of a distance between them that she could see them easily, but was still giving them a semblance of privacy. She watched the young couple fondly as they made their way through the halls and smiled at the occasional times when Sam would see something that excited him and he would look around for her to wave her over and make sure she saw it too. It was rare for the smiles to fall of Sam and Quinn's faces as they walked and talked about the things they were seeing. The small group thoroughly enjoyed their time at the museum. As they headed off to dinner, their chaperone joined back up with and they walked together to find a place to hail a taxi.

"The two of you are very lucky have each other. I may not have had much personal luck with love, but I think that at this point in my life, I know it when I see it. You are lucky to have found it so young, don't take it for granted." Mrs. Chang told the couple as they walked.

"Don't worry, ma'am. I'll never take her for granted." Sam said as he smiled at his girlfriend.

"I won't take him for granted either." Quinn promised, smiling back at him before leaning her head on his shoulder.

* * *

All three of them had loved the musical and Sam had left saying that he understood so much more now why Rachel and Kurt wanted to do that someday. Quinn had agreed with them, saying she knew that she would never forget that night. As they made their way back to the hotel, Mike's mother had confided in them that her favorite part had been watching the dancing, because she loved to imagine the day when her son would be able to dance professionally like the performers in the show. She said that she had always encouraged him to have a back-up plan, but she knew that dancing was his dream and she loved to watch him. The young couple had smiled as they told her how Mike choreographed most of their routines and they all knew he would go far.

When they finally arrived back at the hotel, Sam and Quinn shared a kiss before heading to their separate rooms. They all had plans to attempt to go to sleep as early as possible, knowing they needed their rest for the following day. However with the nerves and excitement running through the group, they knew that they likely wouldn't be successful. They would be competing in a National competition in the morning. They finally had their chance to show everyone who had tormented them for being in the Glee club that they were something special.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I hope this was okay! It was kind of hard for me to write given that I've never been to New York and hadn't thought to do much research. I did look some stuff up, but I didn't have as much time as I would have liked to so it.

_BlackKeys96: _I'm so happy that you liked the chapter and I'm very glad that you liked Miles, he'll be important! Thank you for reviewing!

_Tessie: _Thanks! I'm glad someone likes Finn, the poll was beginning to depress me. Thanks for the review!


	56. Chapter Fifty Five

A few of the chaperones had gotten up before New Directions and gone to pick up breakfast for the group before gathering them all into one room again. While several of the others - namely Finn and Puck - jumped out of bed at the first mention of food, many of the others were to nervous to eat. Normally, Sam would have been one them, but unfortunately, he didn't have that option anymore. As excited as he was, he was also a nervous wreck. He was going to open their Nationals set with a solo that had a lot of personal meaning and the very idea of eating was enough to make him feel sick.

As soon as Quinn spotted the expression on Sam's face, she shot a look at those who had been complaining and they instantly stopped. Puck caught the look she sent and after glancing back at Sam, he began talking about about the upcoming performance and commenting that he wondered what the other groups would sing. The others quickly caught on and the group managed to keep the conversation off of food and their attention away from Sam as he managed to choke down enough food to get an approving nod from Jessica.

His foster mother had kept Ellie and Shawn with her the night before and they had been part of the group who had gone to see Wicked. Once Sam had finished eating, he glanced over at his foster sister to find her in the middle of an animated conversation with Shawn, likely about the show they had seen the night before. He caught Mike's eye and the friends exchanged an amused glance. The two middle-schoolers were clearly good friends and Sam had a feeling Ellie had a bit of a crush on Shawn, Mike seemed to have noticed as well.

He took in the excited chapter of those around him. It was amazing how comforting it could be just to have them near him. He had finally accepted that they really did care about him and it was wonderful to know he really had people who cared. Even when he nearly had a breakdown at the sight of food, as he had just then, they had all made a point to figure out what would help him the best. They pulled him into a group hug when they first heard the solo song he had chosen and none of them seemed to think he was weak like he had once convinced himself they would. He wished he could explain to them how much that meant.

He glanced around the room at the people who had become so important to him. Mike and Tina were both looking nervous as they talked to Artie and Mercedes who seemed to be encouraging them. Rachel was sitting with Finn, Puck and Lauren and she was singing their songs under her breath while the boys occasionally shot her a fond glance and Lauren quirked a half smile at her antics. Mrs. Hummel appeared to be reassuring a slightly nervous looking Kurt, while Mr. Hummel was in the middle of an discussion with Mr. Schue. Quinn was talking with Santana and Brittany while she leaned against his shoulder and Jessica was having a conversation with Mrs. Chang and Mercedes parents while occasionally shooting her own amused looks at Ellie and Shawn along with Mrs. Chang.

The relatively calm conversations only lasted for a few more minutes before Mr. Schue announced that they needed to get into costume and the room seemed to erupt into mass chaos as everyone quickly got up to head for their own rooms to change. In thirty minutes, they had gathered back together, girls in emerald green dresses with a black belt and headband and the boys in black suits with ties to match the dresses of the girls. The group was nearly bubbling with nervous energy as they made their way out to the bus to head to the auditorium.

* * *

They had already spent three hours watching other groups perform and most of them had managed to make themselves much more nervous by doing so. They definitely had some strong competition. Puck had already been reduced to tears twice while his friends hid smiles and pretended not to notice. They had met up with other family members who had flown in that morning and sat with them as they watched the other show choirs. They would be one of the last groups to perform before an hour long intermission was held to allow them to have lunch. New Directions was currently hovering nervously backstage as they waited for their cue and assured Sam that he would do wonderfully.

Finally, their name was announced and Sam quickly took his place on stage. He took a deep breath as his music began the curtain slowly rose. He looked out at the audience and fought back his fear. He couldn't afford to be nervous now. All he could afford to do now was to throw everything into his song. And so he did.

_"I can't stand to fly _  
_ I'm not that naive _  
_ I'm just out to find _  
_ The better part of me" _

He couldn't help but think about what the lyrics meant to him as he sang. He didn't want to be popular anymore, he didn't really care about all that attention now. He loved performing, but he certainly didn't want to take all the credit. That day was about proving something important alongside his friends, it was about all of them.

_"I'm more than a bird I'm more than a plane _  
_ I'm more than some pretty face beside a train _  
_ And it's not easy to be me." _

Sometimes he wished the jerks who still shot nasty looks and mouthed and whispered insults as he walked by could understand the things he had been through. He was so much more then what they saw.

_"I wish that I could cry _  
_ Fall upon my knees _  
_ Find a way to lie _  
_ About a home I'll never see" _

As much as he loved his friends and the Turners, it still hurt deeply that no one had ever wanted him enough to adopt him. He would never have a real family until he was able to make one of his own and he desperately wished that could be different.

_"It may sound absurd, but don't be naive _  
_ Even heroes have the right to bleed _  
_ I may be disturbed…but won't you concede _  
_ Even heroes have the right to dream _  
_ And it's not easy to be me." _

Part of him loved how much his foster siblings looked up to him, but another part of him hated it. He was such a mess sometimes and it made him feel like he couldn't allow them to see that, that it was somehow be wrong to let them see him weak.

_"Up, up and away, away from me_  
_Well it's all right, You can all sleep sound tonight_  
_I'm not crazy or anything"_

As much as he loved them, the worried and concerned looks he so often got from those who know what he had gone through and was still going through sometimes upset him. He knew that they cared and they didn't mean to upset him, but it made him feel so unstable and helpless at times.

_"I can't stand to fly_  
_I'm not that naive_  
_Men weren't meant to ride_  
_With clouds between their knees"_

He had learned one very important thing in the last few months. The kind of perfect he had tried so hard to be wasn't something anyone could be. It wasn't possible to do what he had tried so hard to do. All that mattered was that he had people who cared about him the way he was and that he had a girlfriend who thought that the way he was made him perfect.

_"I'm only a man in a silly red sheet_  
_Digging for kryptonite on this one way street_  
_Only a man in a funny red sheet_  
_Looking for special things inside of me _  
_inside of me, inside of me, inside of me, inside of me"_

He had tried so hard for so long, but he thought he could finally let go, or at least begin to. Being the best person he could be didn't mean nearly killing himself to do it. He might be Aiden's Superman, but he wasn't really Superman.

_"I'm only a man in a funny red sheet_  
_I'm only a man looking for a dream_  
_I'm only a man in a funny red sheet_  
_It's not easy _  
_It's not easy to be me"_

It wasn't easy, but he thought that maybe it was starting to get a little easier. He could move past what had happened to him and someday, he would be okay. He would never forget his past, but he could move on. He sang the last line of the song as his friends began to move into position behind him and in a very practiced movement he quickly backed into place as soon as the spotlight left him. The spotlight switched to the side of the stage and music began again.

_"I've been waiting for my dreams_  
_To turn into something_  
_I could believe in_  
_And looking for that_  
_Magic rainbow_  
_On the horizon_  
_I couldn't see it"_

Finn walked slowly towards the middle of the stage as he sang the opening lines to the groups second song before the spotlight switched to the other side of the stage.

_"Until I let go_  
_Gave into love and watched all the bitterness burn_  
_Now I'm coming alive_  
_Body and soul_  
_And feelin' my world start to turn"_

Rachel stepped out smiling and began to head toward Finn as she took over the song. As she reached him the whole stage was suddenly lit.

_"And I'll taste every moment_  
_And live it out loud_  
_I know this is the time,_  
_This is the time_  
_To be more than a name_  
_Or a face in the crowd_  
_I know this is the time_  
_This is the time of my life_  
_Time of my life"_

The choir joined the couple, stepping into a dance that Mike had choreographed as they sang and meaning every word. The song had become an important one for the group.

_"Holding onto things that vanished_  
_into the air_  
_Left me in pieces"_

Finn sang his next lines as he starred into the eyes of his girlfriend.

_"But now I'm rising from the ashes_  
_Finding my wings_  
_And all that I needed"_

Rachel followed Finn once again, singing her part as he took her by the hand and spun her.

_"Was there all along_  
_Within my reach_  
_As close as the beat of my heart"_

They came together to finish the verse as he pulled her close to him.

_"And I'll taste every moment_  
_And live it out loud_  
_I know this is the time,_  
_This is the time to be_  
_More than a name_  
_Or a face in the crowd_  
_I know this is the time_  
_This is the time of my life_  
_Time of my life"_

New Directions joined in for the second chorus, the words were filled with meaning as each member took the lyrics of the song to heart. Winning would be wonderful, but simply performing there, on a stage in New York as one of the best show choirs in the country was amazing on it's own.

_"And I'm out on the edge of forever_  
_Ready to run_  
_I'm keeping my feet on the ground_  
_My arms open wide_  
_My face to the sun"_

Finn and Rachel sang together again while the others danced behind them doing their best to simply enjoy the moment.

_"And I'll taste every moment_  
_And live it out loud_  
_I know this is the time,_  
_This is the time to be_  
_More than a name_  
_Or a face in the crowd_  
_I know this is the time_  
_This is the time of my life_  
_Time of my life_  
_More than a name_  
_Or a face in the crowd_  
_This is the time_  
_This is the time of my life._  
_This is the time of my life._  
_Life_  
_Time of my life_  
_Time of my life"_

As they came together to finish the song they all knew that day, that moment would be something they would remember for the rest of their lives and they were determined to make it count. Win or lose, they had and would continue to put their heart and soul into the performance. As the music faded they quickly stepped into position for their final song.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I hope you guys like this! I know for sure that one of you is happy about Sam's song. For the record, Sam's solo was 'Superman' by Five For Fighting and the Rachel and Finn duet was 'The Time Of My Life' by David Cook. There's only one chapter after this (not including the epilogue!) so I hope you guys have enjoyed the story so far and I hope you will like the way it ends. I'll try not to take too long to get the sequel up!

_BlackKeys96:_ I'm so happy you liked it! Thank you for reviewing!

_Tessie:_ Thanks! I can't wait to see what you think of Nationals so far!


	57. Chapter Fifty Six

The music for their final song began and they hoped the people in charge of lighting would follow their careful notes. This was their last chance to impress the judges, their last chance to try and make it into the top ten. They desperately hoped that it everyone else would love the song as much as they did.

_"I said remember this moment _  
_ in the back of my mind" _

Tina opened the song as the spotlight hit her, remembering the moment at the assembly when she had sang 'Unwritten' to the crowded room.

_"The time we stood with our shaking hands _  
_The crowds in stands went wild" _

The lyrics Artie had chosen had always brought up two very different memories for him. He remembered winning the final football game of the year, despite the fact that his friends were sidetracked by making sure Karofsky didn't kill him after the little 'practical joke' he pulled and he also remembered the angry crowd at the assembly - angry mostly on their behalf - after the video footage of the bullying was played.

_"We were the Kings and the Queens _  
_ And they read off our names" _

Finn smiled as he sang, thinking of the moment that it had been announced that New Directions had won Regionals, that bittersweet moment of knowing that they would be going to New York, but thinking that his brother wouldn't and how they had ended up there together anyway.

_"The night you danced like you knew our lives _  
_Would never be the same" _

Rachel couldn't help but think of her boyfriend. He always tried so hard to improve his dancing and she remembered the work he had put in to all the important performances in the past few months, Regionals, the assembly and the concert - they had know that all of those nights could change their lives.

_"You held your head like a hero _  
_On a history book page" _

Scenes of her best friend refusing to show the bullies in weakness flashed through Mercedes' mind as she sang. Kurt had been so brave and the way he had stood up to them all in the end, singing that song with Finn while they showed everyone the things that went on in that school was something she would always remember.

_"It was the end of a decade _  
_But the start of an age" _

Kurt thought of the day they had announced the new policy on bullying in the school, he wasn't sure he could ever describe the relief he had felt then. It had all gone on for so long that to know it finally wouldn't be allowed anymore had been amazing.

_"Long live the walls we crashed through _  
_How the kingdom lights shined just for me and you _  
_I was screaming long live all the magic we made _  
_And bring on all the pretenders _  
_One day we will be remembered" _

The group joined together in the chorus, singing their hearts out as memories swirled through their minds. They had fought so hard to get to there, to get to that moment and they couldn't help but look back on how it had happened.

_"I said remember this feeling _  
_I passed the pictures around" _

Brittany sang happily and energetically as she thought of some of the death-defying Cheerios routines she had been part of that year and the feeling of performing in general. She loved entertaining people.

_"Of all the years that we stood there _  
_On the side-lines wishing for right now" _

The lines Sam had chosen always made him think about how lucky he was. Just a year ago he had been a mess, in an abusive foster home with no friends. Now he was performing on stage in a national competition surrounded by friends who were so close that they considered each other family, a girlfriend who loved him and a foster mother who truly cared about him video taping the whole thing.

_"We are the Kings and the Queens _  
_You traded your baseball cap for a crown"_

Quinn couldn't believe how far they had all come. For a group made almost entirely of misfits, they had a lot to be proud of. They had really made it.

_"When they gave us our trophies _  
_And we held them up for our town" _

Flashes of the moments when they had won the final football game of the year as well as when they won Regionals ran through Mike's mind as he sang. The pride in proving that they would do things other people had insisted they couldn't was an amazing feeling.

_"And the cynics were outraged _  
_Screaming this is absurd" _

Lauren smirked as she sang, thinking of the attempted protests when the video footage of the bullying had been shown and imagining the looks on the faces of the idiots back at McKinley when they showed up with a trophy from Nationals.

_"Cause for a moment a band of thieves _  
_In ripped up jeans got to rule the world" _

Puck caught his girlfriends eye as he took over, beginning his lines. The part the two of them had taken was one of his favorite moments in the song. He loved the feeling of showing people who insisted he would never make anything of himself just how wrong they were. It didn't matter what anyone else said, even if they didn't win Nationals, they were still the best show choir in the state and they didn't have to listen to jerks who tried to tell them they sucked.

_"Long live the walls we crashed through _  
_How the kingdom lights shined just for me and you _  
_I was screaming long live all the magic we made _  
_And bring on all the pretenders _  
_I'm not afraid" _

They began the chorus again, beaming at each other and the audience as they sang. A flood of memories hit all of them as they sang. They all remembered previous performances and how amazing it always felt just to sing together.

_"Long live all the mountains we moved _  
_I had the time of my life fighting dragons with you _  
_I was screaming long live the look on your face _  
_And bring on all the pretenders _  
_One day we will be remembered" _

They had done so much that year, New Directions had definitely had their dragons to fight. Yes, they had fought their way to Nationals, but they had also fought against the schools bullies and won and they still fought together now, determined to help Sam beat his eating disorder.

_"Hold on to spinning around _  
_Confetti falls to the ground" _

Santana took the final solo lines of the song, thinking of how it had felt to win the competitions they had won in the past and hoping against hope to be able to add this one to the list.

_"May these memories break our fall" _

The group sang together again as they split off to separate sides of the stage.

_"Will you take a moment, promise me this _  
_That you'll stand by me forever _  
_ But if god forbid fate should step in" _

The boys sang together, facing the girls and each meaning the words they sang. None of them could imagine ever being separated from the others.

_"And force us into a goodbye _  
_ If you have children some day _  
_When they point to the pictures " _

The girls sang the next lines as they stood facing the boys, knowing they would do anything possible to keep from ever being forced into a goodbye.

_"Please tell them my name" _

The group rushed towards each other, mixing together once again.

_"Tell them how the crowds went wild" _

The boys took the next line, picturing the cheering crowds at football games and Glee performances and pumping their fists in the air.

_"Tell them how I hope they shine" _

The girls once again followed, imagining the future children of everyone in the club.

_"Long live the walls we crashed through _  
_I had the time of my life with you" _

The whole group joined together to finish out the song, each thinking of how much they had come to rely on each other and all they had done together.

_"Long, long live the walls we crashed through _  
_How the kingdom lights shined just for me and you _  
_I was screaming long live all the magic we made _  
_And bring on all the pretenders _  
_I'm not afraid _  
_Singing, long live all the mountains we moved _  
_I had the time of my life fighting dragons with you _  
_And long, long live the look on your face _  
_And bring on all the pretenders _  
_One day we will be remembered" _

They sang the final chorus putting everything they had into it. The song meant more to them then they could ever explain in words and they did their best to make the audience understand with their performance. They were a family, they had fought together to get to where they were and they were never going to give up. They would be remembered.

* * *

New Directions headed out to pick up a quick lunch with their families during the intermission still bouncing in excitement. They had performed their set and now they had to wait several hours to find out if they had made the top ten. Artie happily introduced the whole group to his sister before heading over to the parents who were comparing the videos they had taken and offering to edit them together to get all the best shots. They laughed and ate as they tried not to focus on how much waiting they still had to do. Sam was proud of himself when he realized that for the first time in a very long time, he had gotten so caught up in a conversation that he hadn't even realized he'd eaten half of his food.

They managed to make it back to the auditorium after only missing a couple performances. They all sat together, family members scattered between them as they watched the rest of the countries best show choirs perform. They exchanged nervous glances with each other during a few sets, acknowledging that their competition was very talented. The group tried to stay positive though, hoping to at least place in the top ten so they could perform their final number. They knew that even if they didn't win, just being there and having the chance was worth it, but they still desperately wanted that title.

After spending what felt like four of the longest hours in their lives waiting, the last show choir finally performed and an intermission was announced while the judges came to their decision. They all filed out to pace in the hallways while they waited for the announcement. A few people had to be talked down from near panic attacks at the thought of how close they were to what they had been working so hard for all year long. They didn't have a clue of how long it had been before the host of the event walked out to place a list on the door of the auditorium. He pulled out a bullhorn as Kurt muttered that he wondered if the man knew Coach Sylvester and then addressed the crowd.

"Thank you all for joining us again. Our judges have come to a decision as to the top ten choirs. The choirs are listed in no particular order with their performance time next to their name. Congratulations on those who made the list." he said before hurrying away to avoid being trampled.

"I'll go look." Mr. Schue announced as he headed straight for the list, politely pushing his way through the crowd.

The members of New Directions collectively held their breaths as they waited for their coach to get close enough to see if their name was listed. It felt like time was moving in slow motion. Suddenly, their teacher pumped his fist in the air and without even hearing the words they let out a cheer as he came rushing back to them.

"We did it, guys! Top ten! We're the third to perform ... is everyone ready?" he asked the celebrating group.

"I was born ready, Mr. Schue." Puck quipped as the others continued to laugh and jump in excitement.

* * *

They huddled together off stage in a final pre-performance group hug. The applause for the group before them was dying down and as soon as the curtain closed, they would take their positions. This was it. No matter what, they had placed in the final ten, but this was their last chance to impress the judges enough to win. As the other choir headed off-stage, they rushed on taking their places quickly. They began the familiar beginning of the song as the curtains parted.

_"Just a small town girl livin' in a lonely world _

_She took the midnight train goin' anywhere"_

Finn stepped forward as he sang the lines he'd sang so many times before. This was such an important song to them and with any luck, this time it would win them Nationals.

_"Just a city boy, born and raised in South Detroit_

_He took the midnight train goin' anywhere"_

Rachel stepped forward as well, smiling at her boyfriend as she sang. They danced their way back to the group once she finished

_"A singer in a smoky room"_

Artie wheeled himself away from the crowd as he sang, proud to be a part of their final number.

_"The smell of wine and cheap perfume"_

Mercedes made her way to Artie as she sang her lines with a smile.

_"For a smile they can share the night_

_It goes on and on and on and on"_

Their voices joined together as they began a carefully choreographed spin before making their way back to the others.

_"Strangers waiting_

_Up and down the boulevard_

_Their shadows searching in the nights_

_Streetlights people_

_Living just to find emotion_

_Hiding somewhere in the nights"_

New Directions energetically began the first chorus of their final song, putting everything they had into their last chance to impress the judges.

_"Working hard to get my fill_

_Everybody wants a thrill"_

The dance had positioned Kurt towards the front of the stage as he gave his final Nationals solo lines.

_"Payin' anything to roll the dice_

_Just one more time"_

Tina took over, singing the next part with a confidence that made her friends proud.

_"Some will win, some will lose_

_Some are born to sing the blues"_

Sam sang his lines, still thrilled that his friends had given him yet another solo part even though he hadn't been there for the first performances of the song. He could see the theme they had gone with for the soloists in their final number and so he had agreed, feeling another rush of affection for his friends.

_"Oh, the movie never ends_

_It goes on and on and on and on"_

Quinn gave the final solo lines of the song, smiling at her boyfriend as she did so before joining with the others to finish out the song.

_"Strangers waiting_

_Up and down the boulevard_

_Their shadows searching in the nights_

_Streetlights people_

_Living just to find emotion_

_Hiding somewhere in the night_

_Don't stop believin_

_Hold on to that feelin'_

_Streetlight, people_

_Don't stop believin_

_Hold on to that feelin'_

_Streetlight, people_

_Don't stop!"_

The song had always been something special to New Directions and it had felt right to perform it again at Nationals. They hoped that their choice to sing songs that had meaning to them would pay off. They put their all into the last part of the song, all of them nearly ready to collapse by the time the music ended. The audience erupted into applause and they exchanged grins. Win or lose, no one could ever say they hadn't given it their all.

* * *

The judges had made their final decision and they had just made their way back into the auditorium for the announcement. They nervously found their seats, the choirs all sitting together in case they were called the stage. They had spent so much time waiting that Sam half wished that the host would just yell out the name of the winner and be done with it. There was a nervous air in the entire room as everyone waited to find out which choir would win. Finally, everyone had found their seats and the host made his way to the stage.

"Welcome back to the 2011 National Show Choir Competition! I know that we have all been waiting a long time for this moment. Please welcome the top three choirs to the stage." he said, pausing dramatically before continuing, "Soundsplosion ... Vocal Chordz and ... New Directions!" he announced causing the room to burst into applause as even those who hadn't made it put on brave faces to congratulate those who had.

The New Directions sat in stunned silence for a moment before the whole group broke out into excited laughter.

"Go on, Sammy! You have to go to the stage!" Ellie said, pushing her foster brother out of his seat.

Many other family members where doing the same and the group quickly snapped out of it and made their way to the stage to join the other top three choirs. Being in the top three was amazing in itself, but they were so close actually winning the whole thing that all of them were more nervous then they had been all day. This was really it, in the next few minutes they would know the winner. The three groups settled themselves on the stage and the host once again made his way front and center with the microphone.

"Alright. Who's ready to find out the winner?" he asked the crowd, which responded by bursting back into applause and cheers. "Coming in third place in the 2011 National Show Choir Competition is ... Soundsplosion!"

As the audience once again applauded and Soundsplosion was handed their trophy, New Directions was having to remind themselves to breathe. They had come so far and now they were either first or second place in the whole competition. It was an amazing, nerve-wracking feeling.

The host waited for things to die down before continuing, "Okay, everyone. It's between Vocal Chordz and New Directions now. Which one will come out on top? It's time to find out. The winner of the 2011 National Show Choir Competition is ... New Directions!" he announced.

For a moment, they did forget to breathe. Time seemed to go in slow motion as they watched the crowd cheering and couldn't quite process that it was really for them. As they spotted people heading towards them with the trophy, it suddenly hit them and as things rushed back into real time they erupted into cheers and laughter as they pulled each other into various hugs before they were handed their trophy. They held it high into the air as they celebrated before sitting it down and pulling each other into a group hug. They had done it. After all the work they had but into it, they had won. They were the top show choir in the country. As Sam looked out and spotted Jessica and Ellie jumping up and down in the audience and looking just as excited, he couldn't help but think that moment was perfect.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Well guys, that was the final chapter! I'll post the epilogue on Saturday. I really, really hope that you all have enjoyed this story and that you'll continue reading the series when I post the upcoming one-shots and sequel. The two show choir names here were taken from the list at canon Nationals - just so you know. The songs used were Taylor Swift's 'Long Live' and Journey's 'Don't Stop Believin'.

_BlackKeys96_: I'm so happy you liked it! Puck crying is actually canon, if you look closely, he has a tendency to tear up at competitions. Thank you so, so much for reviewing!

_Tessie_: I'm so glad you liked the chapter! I'm sorry there's not a last duet here, but I'll make sure to work one into the sequel! Thank you very much for your review!


	58. Epilogue

It was a month after Nationals and Sam had found himself, his foster family and all of his friends in Rachel's basement for his birthday party. Apparently his friends had been conspiring with his foster parents. He had been highly confused when after heading out for a trip to the store, they had pulled into Rachel's driveway. He had ended up fighting tears when he was steered into the dark basement before the lights were flipped on revealing all of his friends.

He had never had a surprise birthday party before. He hadn't had a birthday party at all in years. He had been a little too injured to do much celebrating the year before and Mr. Mason certainly hadn't been about to give him a party when he lived there. He looked at all his smiling friends and once again he couldn't believe how lucky he was.

"Come on, Sammy!" Aiden said, grabbing his hand, "There's chocolate cake and presents! Cake first!"

"Oh, so you were in on this too?" Sam replied with an amused smile as the little boy dragged him over to the cake.

"'Course I was." the seven year old responded, "Who cuts the cake?"

"Let Sam talk to his friends for a little bit first." Phil said with a laugh, leading a pouting Aiden away from the cake.

"You guys are awesome." he said as he headed back towards his laughing friends.

Quinn pulled him into a hug before Brittany grabbed him and hugged him herself. His friends quickly made it a game of passing him around the group as they each hugged him and laughed. He finally ended up back to Quinn a few minuted later, nearly breathless from laughter.

"Happy birthday, Sam." she whispered as she hugged him again before giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"How did you guys manage to do this?" he asked.

"We've kinda been planning it since Nationals." Finn informed him.

"Seriously?" he replied, shocked.

"Of course. It's your sixteenth birthday, Sam. We wanted it to be special." his girlfriend replied, planting another kiss on his cheek.

"So you're the baby of this little group, huh?" Miles said as he walked up with his arm around Santana.

"No, that would be me. My birthday's in about a month." Quinn replied.

Sam noticed the look of guilt flash across Puck's face. He hadn't realized that Quinn had only barely been fourteen when he slept with her and Sam knew the other boy still felt guilty that she had gone through so much when she was still so young.

"Good to know. We get another party then!" Miles replied with a smile.

Miles had managed to seamlessly work his way into the group, he was still learning what had happened over the past few years, but he was already a member of New Directions in all but name.

"I'll be right back, I have to call my mom." the boy added with a roll of his eyes.

The group of friends spent the next several minutes chatting with each other. Though they had all stayed in touch, it was only the second time that Summer that they had all been together and they were using the time to catch up with each other. They were all happy to be together again. The conversation was interrupted when Aiden managed to escape from his foster parents and ran back to Sam.

"Can we have cake now, Sammy?" the little boy asked.

Sam shot a questioning look at his friends causing some of them to laugh.

"It's your party, Sam!" Mercedes reminded him.

"Then I guess we can." Sam told his foster brother.

"Cake! We get cake!" Aiden loudly announced to the room as he ran towards the table with the food.

The group followed the excited little boy to the table and laughed as he tugged his foster father towards the cake to get him to light the candles. Once he had them lit they broke into the birthday song, causing Sam to blush as they sang to him. The cake was finally cut and pieces were passed around the room. Sam smiled to himself when he realized that though he didn't particularly want to eat the cake, he didn't feel sick at the thought either. It was small progress, but it was progress.

The moment the group had finished eating Aiden began insisting that Sam needed to open his presents, causing Sam to begin to get mildly suspicious. Aiden seemed very much in a hurry for something. He went along with it though and laughed as he realized that his friends had banded together to get him the entire Stargate SG1 series on DVD. He finally came to Quinn's present and raised his eyebrows in shock when he opened it.

"Quinn, this is expensive." he said, looking at the Rosetta Stone program she had given him.

"You said you wanted to learn German and I figured that this way, maybe I could learn it with you." she said with a smile.

He beamed at his girlfriend and pulled her into a hug, "Have I ever told you that you're amazing?" he asked.

"Once or twice." she replied with a smirk, "But so are you."

As he reached for the presents from his family he was instructed to open the ones from the children first. He shot his foster parents a confused look, but did as they asked. He had books he had been wanting from Ellie and Anna and Aiden had gotten him a Superman action figure. He noticed the amused looks on his friends faces as he hugged the little boy to thank him, but luckily none of them said anything that would make Aiden think his present was any less perfect then he thought it was.

As he finally opened the last present, he found two video games he had wanted, but nothing that seemed to be a big enough deal for it to have needed to be saved for last. He hid his confusion and thanked his foster parents, wondering why they had asked that. As soon as he thanked them though he noticed them smile and the whole room suddenly seemed very excited.

"Actually, we have one more present for you - but we need to ask you if you want it first." Phil told him.

"Okay." Sam said, baffled at what they could be giving him that they needed to ask his permission for.

"Sam, you've been with us for over a year now and we can't imagine our lives without you in it. It would be impossible for us to ever love you anymore but we would love it if you would allow us to adopt you." Jessica told him with a loving smile.

Sam froze in shock. They wanted to adopt him? Him? He had been so sure that no one would ever want him. He had given up on every having a real, legal family. He couldn't believe it.

"Please, Sammy. Please say yes." little Aiden said, tugging on his sleeve, "They're 'dopting me too. We can be real brothers, Sammy!"

Sam finally managed to shake himself out of the shock as he registered what Aiden had said, "Yes! Of course, yes! Thank you so much!" he said, pulling his soon-to-be-adoptive parents into a hug as tears sprang into his eyes.

He pulled away and turned his attention to his beaming friends.

"We thought you'd say that." Finn said, looking suspiciously excited again.

Suddenly, Quinn took Anna by the hand, Finn picked Aiden up and Ellie followed his friends onto the stage Rachel had set up. He turned around to look to Jessica and Phil for an answer only to realized that Phil had walked over to and was turning music on. He was about to ask what was going on when he heard his friends start singing.

_"We're the kids _  
_We're the kids _  
_We're the kids of the future _

_We're the kids _  
_We're the kids _  
_We're the kids of the future" _

They were all singing together along with his foster siblings and he laughed when he recognized the song as being one from Aiden's favorite movie.

_"Standing on a dirty, old rooftop _  
_Down below the cars in the city go rushing by _  
_I sit here alone and I wonder why" _

Kurt and Artie sang together both smiling and dancing to the music, appearing to embrace the cheesy song choice.

_"Come on Sam, keep moving forward _  
_Hold your head up high _  
_There's no time for looking down _  
_You will not believe where we're going now" _

He smiled even wider when Aiden began singing along to the slightly changed lyrics with Finn, who was still holding the little boy. Aiden danced along as best he could in Finn's arms as he beamed at Sam.

_"Here we go, let me remind you _  
_Look ahead, the past is behind you" _

He turned his attention to his girlfriend as she sang with his foster sisters. He couldn't believe that they had all managed to keep it from him, the number was obviously rehearsed.

_"We're the kids of the future, whoa! _  
_We're the kids of the future, whoa! _  
_Everybody live 'cause the future is now!" _

The group sang the chorus bouncing around to the beat of the music and clearly enjoying themselves as they performed for Sam.

_"Bright lights, boy, look around you _  
_Your imagination is working overtime _  
_The world that you've dreamt of has now arrived" _

Puck and Mike took the next few lines and Sam was amused at the strange way the song seemed to fit him.

_"Hot shot, the greatest adventure _  
_Is where the family you've searched for _  
_Comes alive _  
_So come meet the Turners" _

Finn and Quinn came back in, singing together along with his foster siblings as they sang another slightly edited part of the song. He felt tears trying to spring their way back into his eyes as he listened to the words.

_"Looking for a place you belong to _  
_Looking for a family that wants you" _

Rachel, Tina and Mercedes sang the next part, spreading the arms to indicate everyone in the room as they sang. The whole group came together again to sing the chorus and he found himself singing along with them.

_"Everyday we have fun me and Sam _  
_So happy to be here with the Turner's _  
_I finally feel I can be someone" _

Finn and Aiden began the next verse again and Sam laughed at Aiden over-enthusiastic dancing. The little boy was very much into the song.

_"Outside a new day is dawning _  
_Outside todayland is sprawling everywhere _  
_I know that it's right because" _

Lauren, Brittany and Santana came in after they finished they part, Brittany seeming just as into the song as Aiden was.

_"We'll save the future together _  
_This family's forever" _

When Ellie, Anna and Aiden came together to sing those lines, Sam lost his battle with tears. He spent the rest of the song smiling with tears of joy in his eyes. He really did have a family. Who would have thought a year ago that he would be where he was today. As he looked around the room filled with people he knew loved him he knew he would remember that day forever, because that was the day that he knew his life was perfect.

* * *

**Author's Note: **This is it guys, the last of 'Perfect'. It took nearly a year, but it's finally finished. I hope you all have enjoyed it and I hope that most of you will stick around for the one shots and the sequel! I will post an Author's Note here when the sequel goes up but I will _not_ post an Author's Note when the one shots go up, I don't want to add a ton of AN's to the end of the story. If you would like me to message you when they go up, please tell me so when you review! For those of you who just want to keep an eye out for them, they will be labeled in the summary as being 'Perfectverse' stories. Also, I have posted another teaser graphic for the sequel on my Tumblr and I will post another once this goes up. The teaser graphics can be found under the 'Perfectverse' tag on my blog.

_BlackKeys96 and Tessie: _I am so happy that the two of you enjoyed it! You've reviewed nearly every chapter of this story and I can't thank you enough for it! I always look forward to your reviews and I hope that you both will enjoy the next parts of the 'Perfectverse' world!

*The song used is "Kids Of The Future" by Jonas Brothers.


	59. Sequel Alert!

**Author's Note:**

Alright, guys - it's up! It was actually up at around midnight Monday, but I managed to forget to post this until now. Both in-universe one-shots are up too and Scared To Death will need to be read to understand what's going on when the sequel begins. The sequel is up under the title 'Perfect Mess' and can be found on my profile! I hope that you guys will enjoy it!


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